Dreams of the past, or hints to the future
by Linken88
Summary: Ten years have passed sense the Kanker family moved away from Peach Creek and Edd hasn't thought much about the sisters over the past ten years. But now he finds Marie is working in a bar near his apartment in New York. Will he finally become friends with his one time stalker, or will memories from the past lead them to something more.
1. Chapter 1

_Edd, known by his friends as Double Dee and Eddward by his parents, has always been a light sleeper. So when he felt his bed move he woke up and opens his eyes to see what was at the end of the bed. It took his eyes a minute to adjust to the dark, but when they do he sees someone sitting on his bed._

 _"Hello?" He says not knowing who it is at the end of his bed._

 _"Hey Double Dee." The person at the end of his bed says._

 _Edd knew who the voice belonged to, it was Marie Kanker sitting on his bed. "Marie?" He says as he starts to panic. "Wh-hat are you doing in my room?" Marie Kanker is one of three Kanker sisters that take pleasure in tormenting him and his two best friends, Ed and Eddy, and Edd was her main focus._

 _"I came to... to say goodbye Double Dee."_

 _"Goodbye?" Edd asks confused._

 _Marie looks over at Edd, had there been more light than the stars shining in through his opened window Edd would have seen the tears in Marie's one eye not covered by her hair. "My mom got back together with May's dad."_

 _"Ok..." He says still confused._

 _"He doesn't live here in Peach Creek, so... were moving away." She says wiping her eyes with the back of her hand._

 _Even though Marie has chased, trapped and forced him to endure her kissing him and other form of aggressive affection, he still couldn't help but feel sorry for her. "I, I'm sorry Marie. When are you leaving?"_

 _"Tomorrow morning, Mom and him are hooking the trailer up to Mom's truck and then were leaving for good."_

 _"That is rather sudden." This has been the longest conversation Edd has ever had with Marie, and it also is turning out to be the saddest._

 _"That's why I came here, I wanted to see you one more time." She says moving closer to him._

 _Edd didn't move as Marie got closer, this was different than how he knows she acts and he doesn't know how to react. "Well then I guess... this is goodbye then Marie." Edd says as Marie gets right next to him._

 _Marie puts one hand gently on Edd's face. "Goodbye Muffin." She says before she brought their faces together for a kiss. This was not a kiss like Edd has ever gotten from Marie, it wasn't forced or rough, it was soft with feeling and kindness behind it._

 _When Marie pulls away from Edd he was at a loss for words, he just sits there in silence from shock as Marie gets up from his bed and starts to walk back to the open window she entered his room through. Marie stops for a second and turns to look at Edd and their eyes meet quickly. Edd didn't see Marie take something from his desk when they broke eye contact, he wouldn't even notice his cactus was missing till the next night, he just watches her climb out of his window in silence._

 ***Beep beep***

The alarm goes off by his head and twenty three year old Edd reaches over and turns off the alarm. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he sits up he thinks back on the dream he was having. 'It's been almost ten years since Marie left, so why would I dream about her?' He thinks stretching.

"Good morning Edd." A voice says from next to him.

Edd looks over and smiles. "Good morning Vicky." He says to his girlfriend of almost three years.

"So how was your first night in our new home?" She asks sitting up in the bed letting the covers fall off her.

Edd leans over and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "It was good, your parents apartment is very nice."

"It's so nice of them to let us live here for free."

"Well you have said they never use it, at least this way it is being used."

"Its Daddy's little tax shelter, they come here maybe a week out of every year just to pay for it and stuff." She says getting out of the bed.

Edd watches his girlfriend walk out of the bedroom. Vicky is two years older than Edd with long blond hair and an hourglass figure that he couldn't help but admire.

The apartment didn't have much to it. Two bedrooms with queen size beds, a full bathroom with a walk in shower and a full kitchen with a table attached to the wall. There is also a large flat screen TV and couch in the living room, but other than that the place is empty.

Later after showering and eating breakfast Edd is gathering his school things and putting them in his bag next to his new laptop. "Sorry I have to go to class on our first day in a new part of New York." He says zipping the bag closed.

"It's ok Edd, I can spend the day shopping. The last time I went on a shopping spree in NYC I was thirteen I think." Vicky says drying her hair with a towel.

Edd couldn't help but remember his dream at the mention of the age he was when the events of the dream took place. "Well have fun, and then after I get back we can maybe go out for some drinks." He says talking out the key Vicky gave him the night before trying to not think about Marie and the dream he had about her.

"Sounds like a date." Vicky says throwing the towel around Edd's neck and pulling him close to her. She kisses him and Edd couldn't help but notice how forceful she is being. The kiss felt as if it is for her enjoyment only, unlike Marie's, but he kisses her back as he places his hands on her hips.

"I'll see you tonight then Love." He says when Vicky finally let's go of him.

"Ugh, you know I hate pet names Edd." She says frowning.

"Sorry Vicky, I guess I can't help it. Love makes us do funny things you know." Edd was never one for pet names when he was younger, but when he met Vicky, and then starting dating her, he kept wanting to give her one. Which she scolded him for every time.

"I love you too Edd, but it doesn't make me do funny things."

Edd shrugs. "I guess I'm just different."

"You are, but it makes you sexy." Vicky says running her finger up and down his chest.

Edd looks down at his wrist to his watch. "I hate to, but I need to go now or I'll miss my train." He says seeing that he needs to leave for school.

"By Edd." Vicky says as Edd opens the front door of the apartment.

"By Vicky." He says walking out the door.

As Edd rides the elevator down from the fifth floor where his new home is he looks at himself in the reflection of the steel doors. He stands a few inches short of six feet tall, has short black messy hair that he doesn't do anything with, he just lets it lay where it falls. Eddy once described it as "mad scientist's hair" and he liked it thinking it fit his scientific mind and has stuck with the hair style after he retired his old black Ski hat.

He's always been a proper child growing up and that affected his dressing habits as an adult, he dresses in a long sleeve dress shirt, of black, white or dark blue, and well kept denim jeans on top of black tennis shoes.

When the elevator hits the bottom floor he steps out and walks to the door of the building passing a security guard sitting at a desk by the door.

Once outside he digs out his smartphone along with his ear buds from his pocket and laptop bag and sticks them into his ears before turning on his music to drown out the noise of living in a big city.

Listening to music was one of the first things he learned about living in New York, the others are it is best to just stand in the subway and to always keep small bills with you for cabs cause the drivers never have change.

The move across the country was a challenge for Edd, having to say goodbye to his friends and family was the hardest things he's ever done. Ed cried for, according to Eddy, a week after he left and for the first year living in New York his mother would call him every Sunday and write to him every other week. But as he's approaching the third year mark Edd has adapted to life in the city that never sleeps.

Walking down into the subway station Edd is bumped into by a short woman with blond hair.

"Hey watch it." The woman says not stopping to look back.

The voice sounded very familiar to Edd and he had to stop and look back. 'That sounded like May, but it couldn't be.' He thinks looking behind himself for the person he bumped into. but he couldn't find the woman and figures he just misheard due to his music playing and shrugs before turning back around to continue down into the station.

Edd and Vicky didn't live too far from the NYU campus so the train ride to and from didn't take very long, so after his classes for the day were done he was back at his girlfriend's parents apartment with several hours still left in the night.

"Hey Edd." Vicky says as he walks into the apartment.

"Hello Vicky, and friends of Vicky I assume?" Edd says seeing two other women sitting at the table with his girlfriend.

"These are my new friends, Jessica." Vicky says gesturing to her left to a red headed girl. "And this is Robin." Vicky says gesturing to the brunette to her right.

"Hello Jessica and Robin." Edd says nodding to Vicky's new friends.

"Hey." The two women say in sync.

Vicky gets up from the table and runs over to Edd. "You like my new dress?" She asks pulling the edge of her pink dress out showing it off to her boyfriend.

Edd looks his girlfriend over. The pink dress she is wearing is held in place around her neck by a thin strip of fabric, leaving not much to the imagination, and ends halfway between her knees and hips. "Very pretty Vicky." He says with a smile.

Vicky smiles and jumps to hug him. "I had a feeling you'd like it." She says before kissing him. "And I'm sure you'll like what else I got today, but you're going to have to wait for that." She whispers into his ear.

Edd feels his cheeks turn red. "Oh my." He says as Vicky pulls away from him.

"Come on girls, Edd promised to take us out for drinks when he got home. He's here now so let's go get our drink on." Vicky says running back over to the table and grabbing her pursue.

Jessica and Robin cheer and stand up and Edd sees they are wearing dresses of the same design as Vicky's, Jessica's being blue and Robin's is green.

Hearing her say this sent a wave of annoyances through Edd. "I'd assumed it would be just us Vicky, it being a date an all." He says walking over to Vicky.

"Edd." She says pulling him away from Jessica and Robin. "Don't be a jerk in front of my new friends."

"I don't mean to be a jerk, I just thought we'd be having a nice night out together, alone." He says pushing the point of what he meant.

Vicky furrows her brow. "Well you are."

Not wanting to fight with her Edd choose to admit that he was wrong. "You're right." He says putting on a smile. "I was being a jerk. I'm sorry, I will be happy if Jessica and Robin joined us."

Vicky smiles and gives him a quick kiss. "Thank you Edd." She says before running back over to her friends. "Come on girls!"

As luck would have it, there happened to be a small bar just a block away from the apartment building. "This place is kind of cozy." Edd says as he, his girlfriend and her two friends walk into the bar.

"It's not a well know place, but they have this bartender that has a short fuse and it's funny watching her." Robin says looking around the bar.

"You girls find a table and we'll get some drinks." Vicky says pulling Edd away towards the bar.

The bartender, a woman with dark brown almost black hair pulled into a ponytail dressed in a black T-shirt and black pants with an apron around her waist, has her back to them when they reach the counter. "Excuse me." Vicky says tapping the counter with her finger.

The bartender turns around. "What can I get ya?" She asks. "Wait, Double Dee?" She says her eyes growing wide.

"Yes... and you are?" Edd says not recognizing the bartender

"Oh my gosh, ok think of blue hair." The bartender says covering her right eye with her hand grinning.

Edd's eyes grow wide. "Marie?" He asks shocked as he recognizes the bartender for who she is.

"Yep." Marie says pulling her hand away from her eye. "Long time no see."

"It has." Edd says as Vicky clears her throat. "Oh, Vicky this is Marie Kanker, she's..."He says trailing off not sure how to describe his former stocker to his girlfriend.

"An old friend from Peach Creek." Marie says giving an answer for him.

"Marie this is Vicky, my girlfriend." Edd says introducing his girlfriend to Marie.

"Fiancé actually." Vicky says holding her hand out to Marie with a smug look on her face.

"Damn Double Dee, grats man." Marie says shaking Vicky's hand.

"Well, not officially yet." Edd says correcting Vicky.

"Edd is going to propose on our fifth anniversary." Vicky says her smug look growing.

"Ok..., so how you've been Double Dee? It's been what? Ten years?" Marie asks looking away from Vicky.

"Good good, I'm going to NYU for engineering and we just moved in to an apartment building a block away. What about you Marie?" He asks not seeing the look of annoyance Vicky has on her face.

"Kicking ass and not caring about names, been working here for a couple year now and I love it." Marie says also not seeing Vicky's face.

"Huh, you know I thought I bumped into May at the subway this morning." Edd says recalling the small collision he had earlier in the day.

"You probably did, she's going to this culinary school and lives with me in the apartment above the bar." Marie says pointing at the ceiling.

"Culinary school? Good for her."

"She has some talent. She cooks and I mix drinks, couldn't asks for a better roommates."

"So what about Lee? Is she living with you as well?" Edd asks wondering if the three sisters are still together.

"Na, Lee took off when she hit eighteen, she never got along with our step dad. She's living in Jersey with this guy she met down there, he reminds me of a docile Eddy by the way."

"Oh my." Edd says before laughing.

Vicky clears her throat again. "Could we get some drinks?" She asks getting annoyed that she is being ignored.

"Sure, how about a couple of tap beers? On the house for old friends and your eventual engagement?" Marie asks pulling a pair of glass mugs out from under the counter.

"WE only drink red wine thank you." Vicky says looking at the mugs with discus.

"Ok, I'll get ya a bottle then." Mare says putting the mugs back under the counter.

Seeing Marie made Edd feel a little nostalgic, not for the way she treated him, but how life was like for him ten years ago. Ed, Eddy and him being the social outcasts that they were, Eddy always trying to scam their now friends out of money somehow, and of the terror Marie and her sisters use to in stow into Edd and his friends.

But as he sits there pretending to listen to Vicky go on about the clothes she bought lost in his thoughts he looks over at Marie behind the bar pouring drinks. He was able to tell that she's not the same as she was when they were kids, she's a grown woman now, and an attractive looking one at that. She looks up from her work and their eyes lock and she smiles at him and he smiles back. Marie then sticks her tongue out at him before she went back to work causing Edd to let a laugh escape.

"What's so funny Edd?" Vicky asks bringing his attention back to his girlfriend and her friends.

"Oh I just remembered something that happened at school today. Eddy sent me a message asking me if I would want to go in on his latest business endeavor. It was this plan to fix up an ice cream truck and over price ice cream to kids. I turned him down of course." Edd says coming up with a lie not wanting to tell Vicky that Marie was the cause of his laugh.

"Oh." Vicky says accepting his reason. "So anyways as I was saying..." Vicky goes back to talking and Edd only hears white noise from his girlfriend as he quickly went back to looking off into space. For the rest of the night Edd would find himself randomly looking over at Marie while she worked and found watching her work to be more enjoyable than listening to Vicky.

* * *

Though his first day in the apartment was full of surprises, the next few weeks were very uneventful for him. He'd wake up, have breakfast with Vicky, ride the train to class, come home they'd eat dinner while she went on about everything she did for the day. Not being enrolled in college anymore Vicky didn't seem to do anything productive in Edd's eyes. She'd tell him about the shops she'd went to, the clothes she bought and all the places she's been too. Some nights Edd would suggest they go down to the bar Marie works at for drinks, it was a little bit of wanting to do something with his girlfriend, and a little bit wanting to see Marie too.

Some nights she wouldn't be working and Edd would feel a little sad, and on the nights she was there he would have a smile on his face the whole night.

One night Edd got to see the short fuse Robin mentioned. Edd and Vicky were sitting at a table enjoying each other's company, or at least they were trying too. Edd was trying to talk about his classes from that day and Vicky was fake listening to him.

"So after the professor spent most of the class explaining what the project was to be about, he realized that it wasn't even for our class." Edd says with a laugh finding his story to be funny.

"Hum." Vicky says looking at him with a blank expansion on her face.

"Is everything ok Vic-" He started to asks her but was cut off by a commotion at the bar.

"Look when I say you've had enough, YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH." He sees Marie say to a rather large man at the bar.

"Wh-what do you know? I'm a payings customer, so I can have as much as I want." The obviously drunk man says.

"I don't care, you're drunk and I'm cutting you off." Marie says crossing her arms.

The man ignores Marie and tries to reach under the bar for anything that might contain alcohol.

But Marie stops him before his wrist makes it under the counter by grabbing his arm. "No one reaches behind my bar." She says pulling the man's arm up.

"Hey, let me go." The man says trying to fight against Marie's grip.

Marie throws his arm back at him. "Get the heck out of my bar before I knock your ass to the ground."

"Fuck you, you little bitch." The man says taking a swing at Marie.

She grabs his hand again and this time slams it down onto to counter with one hand and swings at him with her free hand. Her fist makes contact with the side of his head and the man falls to the ground. "I told you to get out." Marie says looking down at the man on the floor. "Barry, I need ya to drag this prick out." She says to a well built gentlemen that was standing at the door.

"Damn it Marie, you're suppose to let me deal with the drunk ass holes." Barry says walking over to pick the man up.

"Can't help it if I'm better at it then you." She says grinning as she wipes her hands clean with a towel.

"Which one of us is taking him outside?"

"You are. Thanks by the way, I'll have May make ya a thank you sandwich when she gets home." Marie says as Barry starts to drag the guy towards the door.

"Why don't you let me take her to dinner instead?" Barry asks.

Marie lets out a short laugh. "If I did that, then I'd have to do to you what I did to him."

"That's just cold Marie."

"That's a protective sister for ya." She says with a grin.

* * *

Edd was starting to think that Vicky is treating them living together as a vacation, and not them starting their lives together. He would find himself doing all the chores needed to be done in the apartment, where Vicky wouldn't even do the simplest of tasks needed to be done.

"Edd, can you take out the trash?"Vicky asks dumping her half eaten dinner into the trash can.

Edd was sitting at the table working on his school work and eating his own dinner. Setting his pencil down he sighs as he gets up from the table to take care of the trash for her.

"What's with the sigh?" Vicky asks placing her hands on her hips.

"It was just a sigh as I got up." He says walking over to the trash can.

"It didn't seem like just a sigh. Sorry if I'm interrupting your school work time to do a simple chore. I thought a genus would have that done already." Vicky says walking away from him.

"I don't mind doing it, why are you getting mad at me?" He asks pulling the bag out of the can.

"I cannot handle this, I'm going to bed. Alone." Vicky says before slamming bedroom door shut.

Edd sighs a second time as he walks out of the apartment.

He takes the bag down a floor to the trash shoot. As he listens to the bag slide down the shoot he looks at the elevator. 'I don't want to go up stairs yet.' He thinks walking into the elevator and pushes the ground floor button.

Edd walks around the block and finds himself in front of Marie's bar. "Why not." He says opening the door. "It's not like the night could get any worse."

Walking into the bar Edd sees Marie behind the bar and smiles.

Marie looks up and sees Edd. "Hey Double Dee, flying solo tonight?" She asks opening a bottle of beer and handing it to a guy with his hand out.

Edd sits down on a stool at the bar. "Yeah." He says resting his elbows on the bar.

"What's wrong Double Dee?" Mare asks walking over to him.

"It's Vicky, she-"

"Hold on." Marie says cutting him off. She ducks down under the bar and comes back up with a glass mug and a rag. " Got to do the whole bartender therapist thing right." She says as she starts wiping the inside of the glass with the rag.

Edd lets out a short laugh. "She's just so... different, it's all fun and games for her now. When she was still working on her degree she had this great focus that I loved." Edd says opening up to Marie.

"And now?" She asks pushing him to open up more to her.

Edd sighs. "I'm not as happy as I once was, she over reacts more and more lately and I find myself getting annoyed more and more." He says admitting to Marie the truth.

Marie sets the mug down and reaches under the bar. "You need a stiff one buddy." She says setting a small glass down and then pours a brown liquid into the glass from a bottle she took from below the counter as well.

"What is it?" He asks picking up the glass.

"A shot of whisky." She says setting the bottle down on the counter.

Edd looks into the glass, he's never had hard liquor before, but it's been a hard night and he doesn't care enough to turn it down. "Cheers." He says before downing the shot.

"Wow, that's... strong." He says wincing as he set the glass down.

"It is." She says pouring another shot into his glass. "Anything else ya need to get off your chest? Bartender therapist sessions are rare."

Edd downs the second shot with a little more ease. "Well, she is a bit of a control freak."

"You were kind of one when were kids you know. If Ed and Eddy didn't follow your directions when Eddy had you building one of his get rich scam machines you would lose your metaphorical shit."

"Not like this, she has to control everything we do, she even decides when we, you know." Edd says hinting that Vicky chooses when they are intimate.

"Jesus Double Dee. That is hard core."

Edd and Marie talk more as the night went on, Marie told him about bartender school and growing up in New York. It was a lot different than the small town that Peach Creek is. "No one cared that my sisters and I were bad girls, it kind of killed our mojo."

"So did you give up your evil ways?" Edd asks as Marie pores him his fourth shot of whisky.

"Kind of. We didn't go around striking fear into the hearts of everyone in our school, but we were known to not be messed with."

"Did you have your own little gang going? I could see you and your sisters turning freshmen into flunky."

"We didn't have a gang, we had our "Way of life"." Marie says adding air quotes to the last part.

Edd downs the shot. "Way of life?" He asks feeling a little light headed.

"Yeah, we even got these done. " She says pulling up the sleeve of her right arm to show him an obviously cheaply done tattoo that says; "Kanker Life".

"It was meant as a play on that whole thug life thing. Oh man was Mom pissed when she saw them." Marie says pulling her sleeve back down.

"That's a little funny Marie."

"It was kind of a bad idea looking back on the whole think, we could have gotten hurt or really sick from the cheap ink. But I like to think of them as our marks of sisterhood. We might not be together now or forever, but we will always be bonded by fifty bucks and a guy that can't write with a tattoo machine."

Marie was enjoying talking to Edd in between the other people at the bar. She never had a normal conversation with him when she lived in Peach Creek, and when it came for her shift to be over she didn't want to stop. "So Double Dee my shifts ending, ya wanna come up to my place so we can keep hanging out?" She asks untying the apron she has around her waists.

Edd being the feather weight that he is, is buzzed from the few shots he's done over the night. "Sure." He says not thinking it might be a bad idea to go to another woman's apartment.

Marie's apartment is rather small. There are two doors on the wall across from the entrance and a third on the next wall to the right and a small open kitchen with a small round table in one corner of the apartment by the door and a couch and TV in the one opposite of it. The apartment is also walled in pale green wallpaper that looks as if it was applied fifty years ago.

"Welcome to the lair of the Kanker sisters." Marie says as she shuts the door behind them.

"Nice place, very cozy." Edd says looking around.

"You mean small."

"That is another word for it."

"Eh, it's small but fits our needs." Marie says walking over to the window by the kitchen to crack it open to let in the night air.

"Wait a minute." Edd says seeing a large cactus sitting by the window. "Is... is that my old cactus Jim?"

"What, oh... yeah it is..." Marie says looking from the cactus to Edd.

"I always thought it was you that took him."

"I did, sorry about that. I guess I needed something to remember you by back then. Do, do you want him back?"

Edd looks at Marie and sees that the thought of giving Jim back saddened her. "No, he's yours now, and you've clearly taken good care of him."

"That I have, the prickly little bastard." Marie says flicking Jim's pot. She then walks over to the couch and jumps over it and lands on the cushion in a sitting position. "Come over and have a seat Double Dee." She says waving him over to her.

When Edd gets around to the front of the couch he sees Marie take a drink from the same bottle of whisky she was pouring from at the bar. "Did you steal that from your work?" He asks sitting down next to her.

"It's cool, I'll just take it out of my tips tomorrow, I'm still a Kanker remember. Doing bad is what we do" She says offering the bottle to Edd.

Edd looks at the bottle. "So long as you don't get in trouble." He says taking the bottle and takes a short drink from it.

They sit on Marie's couch talking as they passed the bottle back and forth.

"And then he started begging to me on his hands and knees to help him tell Nazz how he felt, I just couldn't say no to Kevin after that. Now I guess they live in California expecting their first kid." Edd says finishing the tale of how Kevin and Nazz became a couple.

"Wow, so Mr. suave needed help from you to seal that deal." Marie says taking the last drink from the bottle.

"Well when your head is full of nothing but car facts, that sometimes leaves out room for how to talk to girls."

"Right cause YOU know how to talk to girls." Marie says dropping the empty bottle onto the floor.

"I'm talking to you right now am I not?" Edd says as a grin comes to his face and Marie lets out a little laugh.

By this point in the night they are both drunk, Edd a lot more then Marie, and her primal instincts start to kick in. "You know, you were my first kiss Double Dee." She says leaning her elbow against the couch and resting her head against her hand.

"You were mine too Marie." Edd says, the alcohol taking effect on him so he doesn't think about what he's saying.

"So... did you like your first kiss?" She asks pulling the tie out of her hair letting it fall around her head.

A clump of her hair fell onto her face just like she wore her hair as a kid. Watching her hair fall made Edd's cheeks turn red. "I didn't understand it at the time, but it was memorable." He says feeling his admiration for her grow.

Marie leans in close to him. "You know, I really did like you a lot back then. You were really cute back then, and you still are." She says putting her free hand on Edd's cheek.

Edd not fully knowing what he's doing doesn't stop her from touching him face. "Looking back, you too were rather cute, in your bad girl ways." He says leaning into her hand.

Marie leans even closer to him till their faces are just a few inches apart. "I need to know something Double Dee." She says before she kisses him.

"Have I improved?" She asks breaking the kiss and throwing all caution and reason out the window.

The kiss was unlike Vicky's forceful kissing, it was soft and gentle, just like he remembers their first. "That... was nice Marie. You have improved." He says not realizing what is going on.

"You want some more?" She asks pushing the boundaries more and moving closer to Edd on the couch.

Edd doesn't even think, he just reaches over with his hand and pulls Marie to him for a second kiss.

* * *

 **AN: A quick note readers, any parts that are in italics are dreams. Also you might find a few similarities between this story and my previous stories about Edd and Marie, but they are two completely different stories, I just like some of the things I came up with from the last** **tale** **.**


	2. Chapter 2

'Oh god my head.' Edd thinks as he wakes up to the biggest hang over he's ever had. Opening his eyes he sees he's in a bed that he is unfamiliar with. "What happened last night?" He says trying to recall the events of the night before.

"Ugh... I drank way too much." Edd hears Marie say from behind him.

"Marie?" He says turning around in the bed to look at the woman next to him.

He sees she has the covers pulled up to her neck with her arms out and covering her face with her hands.

He then looks under the blankets and sees he is not wearing anything say for his boxers. "Oh no, did... did we have sex last night?" He asks looking over to Marie.

Marie rolls onto her side and grins at Edd. "Yeah, you're good Double Dee." She says complimenting him on his bedroom skills as she's filled with the afterglow from their activities of the night before.

Edd sits up. "This is bad, I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have come up here." He says as he fills with regret and shame.

Marie's smile and afterglow fades as she sees the look on Edd's face. "Hey it's ok Double Dee, it was one time and we were both really drunk. You can trust me to keep this a secret, Vicky will never need to know." She says as Edd moves to the side of the bed to look for his clothes.

"You don't understand Marie. I, ME, Eddward Vincent cheated on my own girlfriend. I've never cheated on anything in my life." Edd says pulling his pants on.

Marie would like to say she regrets what happened, but she'd be lying to herself that she didn't enjoy sleeping with Edd. "Look, mistakes were made, but we're human, we make them. Just don't tell Vicky and everything will be forgotten." She says as Edd finished getting dressed.

"I'm terribly sorry Marie. Last night was a big mistake." Edd says as he left Marie's room.

As Edd is leaving the apartment the front door opens and May enters the apartment."Excuse me." He says looking away from May as he quickly left the apartment.

May looks from the door to her sister standing at her own bedroom door with her bedding wrapped around her. "Was that Double Dee?" May asks curious if it was in fact Marie's old crush she just saw leave the apartment.

Marie wanted to tell her sister the truth, but a promise is a promise. "Na it wasn't."

"Really?" May asks not believing her sister.

"Yeah, it was just this timid nerd that's still really cute." Marie says before walking back into her room.

As Edd suspected Vicky was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for him. "So, where were you last night?" She asks as Edd closes the door as quietly as he could.

Edd looks at Vicky and thinks of the first lie he could. "I was up all night walking around the city." He says hoping it was a convincing lie.

Vicky gets up off the chair and walks over to him. "Then why do I smell alcohol on you?" She asks glaring at him with eyes as sharp as knifes.

"I stopped by this bar to get a drink, I only wanted a bottle of water and it was the closest place that was open. But as I was waiting for the bartender one of the patron's was pushed by another and his drink spilled on me." He says adding to the lie.

Either Vicky believed him or she didn't and was going to spring the truth on him later he isn't sure, but after staring him down for what seemed like hours she walks away from him. "Fine, go take a shower, you reek of mistakes and shame."

'You do not know how right you are.' Edd thinks as he walks off towards the bathroom.

* * *

For weeks Edd avoids going to the bar Marie works at. He wanted to see Marie, she is a fun person to talk to and what little of the night he remembers was enjoyable, but he needed to stay away to avoid any chance of Vicky finding out about his one night stand with Marie. He was putting in all the effort he could to make it work with Vicky, doing all the chores without a word, taking her out dinner randomly and listening to her talk about her day despite how boring it would be. But it just wasn't working. Vicky seemed to get on his nerves more and more as he tried to make it work.

'Could I not be in love with her anymore?' Edd thinks as Vicky turns away from him in their bed one night.

One morning as he's walking onto the train bound for school he gets a text message from an unknown number. "Hey, we need to talk." The message says.

Curious he responds back: "Who is this?"

"It's Marie."

Edd doesn't recall giving her his number, then again he doesn't remember much from the last time he saw Marie. "Oh, what did you want to talk about?"

"Not like this, can we meet up somewhere to talk?"

"Sure, I'm on my way to class right now."

"Ok, how about later tonight? There is this diner a few blocks north of the bar, how about there?"

"That's fine. I have classes till four, so I'll see you after, if that is ok?"

He didn't get a response back from Marie, but he assumes that it is fine with her.

For the rest of the day his mind was on the coming meeting with Marie and what she needed to talk to him about. 'I'm sure it's nothing serious, maybe she just wants to apologize for what happened. Though I am equally to blame for the lapse in character.' He thinks as his professor starts his second class for the day.

Hours later Edd is walking into the diner Marie wanted to meet him at, and he couldn't help but feel a little excited to see Marie again after so long. 'Just friends Eddward. We are meeting just as friends, that night was a big mistake. Were with Vicky and we love her.' He thinks as he looks around the diner.

Edd wouldn't admit it to himself, but his question from a while ago has been stirring in his mind and deep down he knows he doesn't love Vicky like he did. He still loves her yes, but more like a good friend and not as a girlfriend. It's hard to admit something like that to yourself so Edd has just been pretending to care for her as more than just a friend.

Edd spots Marie sitting at a booth with her hair out of the ponytail and couldn't help but smile at her. She looks up and sees him, but only gives him a half smile.

Edd walks over and sits down on the opposite bench to her with his back to the door. "Hello Marie, sorry I haven't been by the bar in a while. But I thought it was best, not wanting Vicky to find out about..." he says trailing off at the end. Every time Edd has thought about the night he got drunk and slept with Marie his brain would over load. Part of his brain regretted the whole night, but another part of it enjoyed it.

"I understand Double Dee, but we've got a bit of a problem." Marie says looking down and away from him.

"What's wrong Marie?" He asks worried something bad has happened to her.

Marie pulls a folded piece of paper out of her back pocket and slides it over to Edd. "I got this in the mail today." She says still looking away from Edd.

Edd unfolds the piece of paper. It's a letter and as he reads it he discovers it's from Marie's doctor and it is in regards about a pregnancy test she had done, the results of the test were positive.

Edd looks up from the letter at Marie. "I wish I could say you might not be the dad, but you were a three month dry spell breaker." She says still keeping her gaze away from Edd.

Edd didn't know what to say, he just re reads the letter.

"I'll understand if you don't want anything to do with it, but I felt like you should know." She says balling up her fists on the table.

"Hey." Edd says reaching across the table with one hand and putting it on top of hers as rain starts to fall outside the diner. "Were in this together, we'll figure something out."

"What about Icky- I mean Vicky? She's probably going to want to kill you, me or both of us."

Edd sighs. "She is going to be mad, but I hope she'll understand th-"

"Understand what Edd?" Edd hears from behind him. He turns around to see Vicky standing a few feet away looking right at Edd with anger and fire in her eyes. "I knew you'd be with this this, this hussy!" She yells pointing a finger at Marie.

"Hey. No one calls a Kanker a hussy." Marie says getting out of the booth and taking a step towards Vicky.

Vicky ignores Marie's advance. "I know you went to her bar that night, and I know you didn't leave till the morning. I was willing to let it go, but when Robin told me she saw you walking this way and not back to OUR home, where I was going to make you dinner. I needed to see what you were doing, I didn't expect to see you with her again. I have done nothing but make you happy Edd, yet here you are with some trailer trash bitch."

Vicky is cut off during her rant against Edd by Marie. "No one calls me trailer trash." She says glaring at Vicky and poking her in the chest.

Vicky smacks Marie's hand away. "Who do you think you are? No one talks to a Prescott like that."

"I'm Marie fucking Kanker. And I don't give two shits what your last name is. No one talks like that to my friends, especially Double Dee. You treat him like he's a chump and he puts up with it cause he's fucking in love with you. Though I don't see why a bitch like you even deserves half of what he's given you." Marie says giving Vicky an evil look that only a Kanker could make.

Vicky is severely intimidated by Marie. "Well, well guess what bitch, I don't care." She says before turning to Edd, who was frozen from fear. He's never seen Vicky angry and something inside of him was keeping him from moving or saying anything. "You think you can cheat on me and not suffer? It's over Edd, I never want to see you ever again." She says slapping him before she turns and storms out of the diner.

The diner was mostly empty say for the handful of people that grew quiet when the whole ordeal started and they all were looking at Edd and Marie as Vicky walked out.

"Shit, I'm really sorry Edd." Marie says as she drops back down onto her seat her hand shaking from the adrenaline of yelling at Vicky.

Edd doesn't say anything, he doesn't even move his head back from the slap. He is sad and feels pain in his heart, but it's not as if someone took a bat to the plate that is his metaphorical heart. "I... I don't know..." is all he can think to say.

"Here I am again, causing you grief and pain, just like the old days." Marie says as she slouches in the booth.

Edd moves his head back. "This is not your fault Marie. The magic was already gone, I just didn't want to admit it."

"Well I didn't help."

After their night together Marie also became a little confused. When she saw Edd the night he came into the bar for the first time with Vicky she was happy to see an old face and had hopes that maybe the past could be put behind them and they could become friends. But after they slept together everything started to change. She thought she'd cried away all her feelings for him years ago when her and her family first moved away from Peach Creek. But it seems her hard work is slowly starting to fall apart as she sits there looking at her once crush, and first love.

She looks out the window as they sit there in silence for almost an hour. "Do you want to share a cab so we don't have to walk in the rain?" She asks looking back at Edd finally breaking the silence between them.

"I... I guess I should at least try and talk with Vicky." He says looking out the window at the rain.

"Why would you want to talk to her?" Marie asks shocked by what he just said.

"Everything I own here in New York is in her parents apartment, I need to find out if she's going to let me get it or if I'm going to have to go dumpster diving in the rain."

"That wouldn't be fun, well shall we then?"

"I guess." Edd says getting up from the booth. "I hope this place doesn't have very good food." He says as they walk to the door.

"Why would that matter?"

"Well." He says opening the door for her. "I just don't think I will ever want to come back in here." He says with a small smile.

As they sit in the cab in silence with the rain pounding down Marie felt a conflict arise in her mind and heart. Edd is sitting next to her in the back seat resting his chin in his hand looking out the window lost in thought with his other hand laying seemingly forgotten next to him on the seat. And because she has either gained newfound affection for him, or cause she never did give up her love for him, she desperately wanted to hold his hand like she was still a twelve year old girl. But she pushes those thoughts to the back of her mind. 'Edd doesn't need a crushing little girl, he needs a friend. One with a place for him to crash, for the night at least.' She thinks appeasing her subconscious a little.

When the cab reaches the building Vicky, and formally Edd's, apartment is in the cab driver turns around and tells them the cost of the ride. Before Edd could even reach into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet, Marie hands the driver a few bills.

"I thought we were going to split the fare." Edd says looking from the driver to Marie.

"It's no big deal Double Dee, consider it the first of many ways I say I'm sorry for screwing up your relationship." She says opening the door and getting out.

Edd opens his door and quickly walks around to the cab and over to Marie who's under the awning of the building. "Marie." He says grabbing her hand. "I appreciate the thought and jester, but you don't need to keep saying you're sorry. I understand that you are, but I am the one to blame for me making a mistake. I was the one that was in a relationship when I choose to forget that and succumbed to my primal instincts and slept with you. All you are responsible for is being a good friend and listening to my problems, and for being beautiful enough to sway my reason." He says looking into her eyes.

At the mention of her being beautiful Marie couldn't help but smile. "So what you're saying is that I'm much more attractive then Vicky and can easily manipulate you with my looks if I wanted too?" She asks putting to memory that Edd did just say she's beautiful.

Edd lets out a laugh. "Well I can't say for certain, but I do ask you to not try." He says letting go of her hand

"No promises." She says turning to walk in to the apartment building.

Just as they enter the building they are approached by the security guard. "You Edd?" The guard asks.

"Yes I am, may I help you?" Edd asks back looking at the guard worrying that he is about to be thrown out of the building.

"Your friend up on the fifth floor asked me to watch your stuff." The guard says pointing at a pile of books and trash bags of clothing.

"Oh, thank you." Edd says taking a step over to his belongings but is stopped by the guard putting his hand on Edd's shoulder.

"She also said you'd pay me fifty bucks for keeping an eye on it." The guard says looking Edd right in the eye.

Edd lets out a sigh. "I understand." He says reaching into his back pocket.

"Whoa, why should HE pay you? She's the one that kicked him out." Marie asks pushing the guards hand off of Edd.

"I don't care who did what. All I care about is getting my money, or would you prefer I keep that nice laptop over there?" The guard says pointing at Edd's laptop bag.

Edd holds a few bills out to the guard and he takes them.

Marie and Edd walk over to the pile of Edd's things. "You're a dick." She says looking over at the guard.

"I've been called worse." The guard says walking back to his post.

"Well, it looks like she didn't waste any time removing me from her life." Edd says picking up his laptop bag.

"I know this might not be the best, but if you want you can crash on my couch for a few, until you find a new place." Marie says grabbing a pair of bags of clothing.

"Well, I don't see why I couldn't for the night at least." Edd says stacking his books up.

Marie smiles. "Cool, I'm sure May will be thrilled to see you."

Edd picks up the stack of books and they start walking to the door. "Does she know?" He asks wondering if Marie has told her sister about being pregnant.

"I haven't told her yet, but I planned on telling her soon."

"I hope she will not hold any ill will to me."

Marie kicks at the door to open it. "She might punch you once or twice, but she wouldn't kill you like Lee would." She says as they walk out of the building.

As luck would have it, the rain has let up while they were inside the building.. "I feel like a punch would be getting off easy." Edd says as they start walking down the sidewalk.

"May's grown up a lot since we were kids. Hell we all have." Marie says throwing a bag over her shoulder.

"Not Eddy, he barely graduated and is always looking for a get rich quick scam instead of finding a real job." Edd says shaking his head in shame.

"Well, I guess some things never change."

"Oi! May, you better have pants on. We have a guest!" Marie yells as Edd and her walk into her apartment.

"Why would you think I wouldn't have pants on?" May asks walking out of her bedroom.

"I don't know, but I'm sure Double Dee wouldn't want to see you in your underwear." Marie says as Edd closes the door behind them.

"Wait, what?" May asks looking at her sister. She then sees Edd standing behind Marie a little red in the faced from the conversation Marie and May were having. "Holly crap! Hey Double Dee! Marie said she's seen you down at the bar a couple of times." May says smiling at Edd.

"Hello May, it's nice to see you again." Edd says returning the greeting.

This being the first time Edd has fully seen May, he takes a second to look her over. The first thing he noticed was her buck teeth have been fixed, she still has her blond hair hanging around her head but she's added some brunette highlights in random places. She's also dressed in a light gray hoodie over a red shirt and blue jeans.

"What brings you buy, for a second time?" May asks hinting that she still believes it was Edd she saw leaving the apartment weeks ago.

"Well, um..." Edd says unsure of how to answer May.

"His bitch of a girlfriend dumped him and kicked him out. So I offered him our couch for the night." Marie says giving May a mostly correct answer.

"Yes, Vicky chose to end our relationship and Marie being the good friend she is invited me to stay here for the night." Edd says shifting the weight of his books around in his hands.

"Did you invite him to sleep on the couch? Or your bed Marie?" May asks with a sly grin.

Edd drops his books from embarrassment. "May! The couch of course. What would make you think I would want him to sleep with me?" Marie asks glaring at her sister. Marie would be lying if she said the thought never crossed her mind, but it's not the time to even think about doing anything with Edd.

"Cause its Double Dee, and out of the three of us it was you that hated leaving you "Dreamboat" the most." May says crossing her arms as Edd keeled down to pick up his books.

"I can assure you May that Marie's intentions are purely platonic, despite our past history." Edd says as he gathers up his books doing his best to hide his red face from the sisters.

"For now it is." May says as she turns to walk back into her room.

"Can it May." Marie says as she kicks at her sister and misses.

May laughs as she closes her door.

"It's nice to see that you and your sister are still the same." Edd says standing up with his books as Marie carries his bags of clothing over to the couch.

"Kanker Life remember? We stick to it." She says as Edd looks around the apartment.

"Marie, where may I leave my books so they are out of the way?" He asks unsure where he could leave this school things.

"You can take the table, we hardly ever use it anyways." Marie says dropping the bags of Edd's clothing onto the ground with care.

Edd carries the books over to the table and drops them down onto it before he collapsed into one of the chairs with a long sigh. "This, has been a day." He says closing his eyes.

Marie walks over to the table and flips the other chair around to sit on it backwards. "It has been kind of a shit day, but you want to know what I do when I've had a day like this?" She asks leaning on the back rest of the chair.

Edd opens one eye and looks at her. "Have a drink? Cause I could use one right about now I think." He says noticing that Marie is looking at him with a soft smile and care in her eyes.

Marie lets out a small laugh. "Well yes I tend to have a beer too. But, you know, can't do that anymore. But what I also do is order a Trash Can pizza from this place called Big Tony's. They make the best pizza in all of New York, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise."

Edd sits up in his chair. "A comfort food like pizza does sound appealing."

"Cool." Marie says to Edd before turning to yell at May's door; "Hay May, were going to order a pizza from Big Tony's, you want in on this?"

"As long as I don't have to hear you and Double Dee flirting I'm in." May yells back.

"Don't make me come in there and beat your ass for being a smart ass." Marie yells back at her sister as she starts to feel annoyed at her.

"If you kill me then you'll have to pay the rent all on your own." May says walking out of her room as she digs through her pursue.

"You don't even pay your half of the rent, Rod pays for it."

May holds a few bills out to her sister. "I can't help if I'm his favorite."

"That's cause you're his biological daughter." Marie says as she takes the bills from May.

May grins and crosses her arms. "Yet you still call him dad."

"Your point?" Marie asks unsure why May pointed out the fact that Marie grew to like May's father and even saw him as her own.

"That OUR dad is great, and he cares for you just as much me. He even paid for your bartenders school remember?"

"Ok fine, you are his favorite and not because your blood related." Marie says as she starts the call to order the pizza.

 ***knock knock***

"And that will be our pizza." Marie says getting up from the couch.

"That was rather fast." Edd says looking up from the school work he was doing at the table.

Marie walks over to the door. "Another good thing about Big Tony's. Hey May, pizzas here!" She yells at May's bedroom door before opening the front door of the apartment.

"Hey Marie, got your order." The delivery man, a young gentlemen that looked around Edd and Marie's age, says holding the pizza box in his hands smiling at Marie.

"Thanks Billy." Marie says taking the box from the delivery man. "Double Dee, mind taking this so I can pay the man?" She asks turning to Edd.

"Sure." Edd says getting up from the table.

"Hey there Billy, how's your dad doing?" May asks walking out of her bedroom door and over to the open door where Billy is standing.

"He's doing good. He's out of the hospital, but they won't let him come back to the shop for a while longer. He also sends his thanks to his favorite pair of sister for the beer you sent him while he was in the hospital." Billy says looking over to May.

"It's the least we could do, after all the times he's fed us over the years." May says as Edd takes the pizza from Marie.

"Here you go Billy." Marie says handing Billy the money due for the pizza. "Well have a good one." She says before turning around and joining Edd at the table.

"What am I going to have to do to get her to talk to me so I can ask her out?" Billy says quietly to May looking at Marie with envy.

"Sorry Billy, she's got her eyes set on someone else already." May says watching Edd and Marie talk.

Billy puts the money into his pocket. "Damn, what'd he do that I didn't?"

"Being her first love would have helped." May says with a grin.

"So how's everyone been in the Cul-de-sack Double Dee?" May asks as the two sisters and Edd sit on the couch eating the pizza. Edd is sitting between the sisters because May claimed she wanted an armrest, but in all reality she just wanted to make Edd and Marie sit next to each other.

"I haven't seen everyone in a while now, but the last time we talked they all were doing well." Edd says wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"How- hows Ed been?" She asks with a little nervousness in her voice.

Edd could senses that May is a little nervous about asking about her former crush. "Well Ed has been... doing as well as you could hope for." He says choosing his words carefully.

"And that means?" Marie asks knowing that May wants to know more about Ed but wouldn't ask herself.

"Well, he's still living with his parents. He's working as a night stalker at a grocery store and is still trying to get his GED." Edd says looking down at his plate. One of his best friends not finishing high school has always bothered Edd.

"He never finished high school?" May asks, her eyes growing wide.

"Yes, I tried as hard as I could to get him to focus on his studies, but Eddy was just too much of a bad influence on him." Edd says feeling his shame growing.

"Hey." Marie says reaching behind Edd and scratching the back of his head in a caring manner. "I'm sure you did everything short of cutting out your own brain and putting it inside his head. Some people just have a hard time learning, and didn't you say that Eddy is not doing much better? They just have to learn on their own what happens when you don't care about finishing school." She says as Edd lifts his head and looks at her.

Edd enjoys the feeling of Marie scratching the back of his head and found himself feeling relaxed for the first time that day. "Thank you Marie. I have to agree with you on that, school is important in becoming an adult." He says smiling at her.

May sees them smiling at each other and decides it's time to remove herself from the room. "Well I'm off to bed, I've got class in the morning and it's my turn to bring something in for the group." She says getting up from the couch.

May getting up from the couch snaps Marie and Edd out of the trance they both were in and separated. "I too should be getting to sleep, it has been a long day and I need to figure out where I'll be living from here on out." Edd says scooting away from Marie on the couch.

"I'll get ya a blanket and pillow Double Dee." Marie says getting up from the couch. 'Damn it Marie, stop flirting.' She thinks walking towards her bedroom.

"Here you go Double Dee, one pillow and blanket. If you need to use the toilet don't bother asking and you're welcome to anything in the fridge if you get hungry." Marie says walking out of her bedroom in her pajamas, a black tank top and dark green pajama pants, carrying a pillow from her own bed and a spare blanket.

Edd takes the pillow and blanket from Marie. "Thank you again Marie, I don't know what I would have done without you."

"It's cool Double Dee. So are you going to change or did ya plan on sleeping in the clothes you have on now?"

"I was just about to ask if I could use your restroom to change."

"It's a good thing New York didn't take your politeness from you, most people in this city are rude."

"Someone has to keep humanity looking good." Edd says with a smile as he sets the bedding down on the couch.

"So when the aliens do come they won't think all men are pigs?"

Edd smiles at Marie."That's not my main purpose for being a gentleman, but if they do come I hope I will show them that we are a civilized race."

"Well I'd back ya if they did." Marie says returning the smile.

"So are you two going to be like this all night?" May asks walking out of the bathroom with toothbrush in hand.

"What are you talking about?" Marie asks crossing her arms.

"This." She says pointing from Edd to Marie and back with her toothbrush. "You're acting like a bunch of teenagers."

Marie marches over to May, grabs her arm and drags her into her own bedroom.

"Look." Marie says closing May's door. "The reason Double Dee's girlfriend dumped him is me. She found out that we got drunk one night and slept together and confronted him when we met up to talk about... things, it's all my fault that he got dumped and thrown out of his place. I'm trying to make it up to him by letting him stay here until he finds a place." Marie says choosing not to tell May why Edd and her met up to talk thinking it was a bit too soon and didn't want her over reacting on Edd.

"Damn Marie." Is all May could think to say.

"So could you not make a big deal about it and stop making accusations that were flirting? I'm just trying to be a good friend for Double Dee, nothing more."

"Ok Marie, I'll lay off teasing Double Dee."

"Thank you May." Marie says thankful that her sister understands.

May cracks a smile. "Now get out there, your man is waiting."

Marie pinches the brim of her nose. "Damn it May, you said you would lay off."

"Teasing Double Dee, I'm still going to mess with you when I can." May says point at Marie.

"Ugh, damn you May." Marie says covering her face with her palm.

"Hey, Kanker Life remember?"


	3. Chapter 3

Later that night Marie wakes up craving a drink of water. She sits up in her bed and looks down at her stomach. "This is your fault, isn't it?" She says to her stomach talking to the child growing inside her.

Marie isn't sure how she feels about being pregnant, had it been her younger self in the current situation she probably see this as the way to land Edd as hers. But she's not a teenage girl with a slightly unhealthy level of a crush, she's a twenty three year old grown up that didn't think about what she was doing and is now on the path to being a single mother of the child of her middle school crush.

She is also not sure what is going to happen now with Edd and their unborn child. 'I guess I should just try and get through each day one at a time for now.' She thinks opening her bedroom door.

Standing in the kitchen drinking from the glass of water Maire looks over at the couch where Edd is sleeping. The lights were off in the apartment but there was enough light coming in through the window that she could see he'd tossed the blanket off himself as he slept. As Marie stood there drinking and looking over at Edd watching him sleep she feels regret over causing the end to his relationship.

'What the heck were we thinking?' She thinks wondering why she invited him up to her home and then didn't stop when things between them had gone too far. 'We know why, we were feeling lonely and Double Dee always made us feel like someone could care.' She thinks remembering how Edd used to make her feel when they were kids.

'But we just fucked up his relationship, he's not going to want anything to do with me past being friends for a who knows how long.'

She sets her empty glass in the sink and walks over to the couch. Looking at Edd sleeping Marie remembers the last time she watched him sleep. 'He still looks so at peace when he sleeps despite what he's been through today.' She thinks as she picks the blanket up off the floor. She tosses the blanket over Edd making sure to not cover his head and as the blanket settled on him he stirs and a smile comes to his face.

Carefully and as gently as she could, Marie runs her fingers through his hair. 'He must be dreaming about something good.' She thinks admiring the sight of Edd sleeping. Hesitantly she leans down and kisses him on the cheek.

"Good night Double Dee." She whispers to him letting the fire she once stoked for him in her heart reignite. It's only a small fire, but deep down she knows that it is going to grow.

Saying that Edd was dreaming about something good wouldn't be entirely true. As he slept on Marie's couch he dreamt about the day after Marie broke into his bedroom and kissed him.

 _"Ar-are you sh-sure this is a good idea Eddy? What i-if the rumors are fake?" Ed asks as the three Ed's jump the fence that separate the cul-de-sack from the Park and Flush trailer park._

 _"Relax Lumpy, we'll just take a quick look and see if it's true." Eddy says as he looks around for signs of people watching them._

 _Edd being very unathletic was the last of them to get over the fence. "Again I must advise against these actions gentlemen, it is not our place to indulge into the rumor that the Kankers sisters have in fact moved away." He says as he adjusts his shirt. Edd hasn't told anyone about Marie breaking into his room to say goodbye and he isn't sure if he ever will._

 _At first he thought it was just another one of her schemes to force her affection on to him, but when he was sitting in his third period class he overheard two girls talking about how the Kanker Bathroom, the restroom at the far end of the school where the Kanker sisters are known to spend most of their time at when they were in school, was empty and has been all day. He didn't think anything of it at the time, the sisters are known to ditch school whenever they felt like it. But as he waited in line during lunch he heard a boy in front of him tell a girl that he saw the Kankers trailer driving down the road towards the interstate highway._

 _And now as the three boys walk through the Park and Flush Edd believes that Marie was telling the truth._

 _"Stop being a buzzkill Sock Head, this could be the start of a life free from the torture we've been getting." Eddy says as the three boys walk around a trailer._

 _"Guys, look." Ed says pointing at the spot where the Kanker family trailer once sat._

 _"It really is gone... do you guys know what this means?" Eddy says looking from Ed to Edd as the three boys stood feet away from the empty trailer lot._

 _"That my mom is serving gravy for dinner?" Ed says scratching his non existing chin._

 _"No Ed." Eddy says before wrapping his arms around Ed and Edd. "It means we are free boys!"_

 _"Like a bird Eddy?" Ed asks still confused._

 _Edd pinches the brim of his nose. "No Ed, what Eddy means is that now that the Kanker sisters have in fact moved we will no longer be susceptive of their own brand of affection." He says pushing himself out of Eddy's grasp._

 _"Oh... so no more May scaring me?" Ed says as he finally starts to understand._

 _"Its time to celebrate boys!" Eddy says clearly extremely happy about the Kanker sisters moving away._

 _Where Eddy is clearly happy to see the Kankers gone, Edd is unsure what to feel. Logically he should be happy that they were gone, but Marie's late night visit and the kiss she gave him confused him._

 _"You know, they were not all that bad. Yes they tormented us to no end, but they did care about us, in their own way." Edd says as he walks up to the spot where the trailer once sat._

 _"You're crazy Double Dee, they were evil to the core." Eddy says turning to walk out of the park with a skip in his step._

 _'I don't think someone who acted like Marie did last night would be "evil to the core".' Edd thinks as he surveys the empty lot of land. As he looks around at the empty lot he spots something black on the ground. Curious Edd walks over and picks it up. He sees that it is a cloth band he's seen Marie wear in the past. Looking at the band he remembers all the time he's interacted with Marie, but instead of those memory's filling him with fear he's filled with a sense of sadness that she is gone and that he might never see her again._

 _Edd looks around to make sure Ed and or Eddy is not watching him. 'Well, I guess this IS goodbye Marie. I'm sorry we couldn't have been friends at the end.' He thinks as he shoves the band into his pocket._

* * *

Edd wakes up the next morning to the sound of someone yelling. 'Another dream about Marie, that... is strange.' He thinks as he sits up on the couch.

"I told you to stop messing with me Marie!" Edd hears May yell.

He turns around and sees the sisters in the kitchen. "Well I don't want your stupid blueberry waffles, and I bet Double Dee wouldn't either." Marie says crossing her arms glaring at her sister. Both of the sisters are in bath robes, having taking showers prior to making breakfast.

"My waffles are made from scratch Marie, you would have to be sick to not like them." May says pointing at Marie with a spatula.

"Well I think toaster waffles are better so there." Marie says sticking her tongue out at May.

Edd watched the sisters fight and couldn't help but to start laughing. "I have to say, it is rather funny seeing the two of you fight." He says making his presence know to the sisters.

Hearing Edd talk caused the sisters to jump and look at him. "Oh, hey Double Dee, how'd ya sleep?" Marie asks forgetting that she was fighting with her sister.

"It's been awhile since I've slept on a couch, but it was still a good sleep." He says letting the memory of his dream fade away.

Marie smiles. "Cool, well breakfast is almost ready, assuming May doesn't take forever." She says poking fun at her sister.

"I told you." May says turning back to the waffle maker she was using. "It takes time to make good food."

"And I told you that you're overdoing it." Marie says shaking her head and walking to the other end of the kitchen counter where a coffee make sat.

Marie picks up the craft full of coffee from the maker. "Coffee?" She asks holding the craft up to Edd.

Edd's eyes light up slightly. "I haven't had coffee in years, Vicky said it would stain my teeth and she didn't want to see that."

"Well neither of us are a controlling bitch- Oh, sorry Double Dee." Marie says covering her mouth thinking that Edd wouldn't like hearing his recent girlfriend being called a bitch.

"It's ok Marie. While it is not a word I would use to describe her, I can see how you would wish to after the altercation you had with her yesterday." Edd says getting up from the couch.

"Was she THAT bad Double Dee?" May asks looking over her shoulder at him.

"Not at first. When we first met she was deep into her studies and we would stay up late together working. It's how we actually met, we were both in the school library working late into the night. But something changed over that past couple of months and she lost that drive."

"People do change, and not always for the better." Marie says pouring coffee into a mug for Edd.

Edd walks around the couch and over to the sisters. "This is true, like the pair of sisters that once tormented my friends and I putting me up for the night."

"Hey, for all you know this has all been a reuse to lure you into a face sense of security." Marie says with a grin holding the mug out to Edd.

Edd takes the mug from Marie. "Well if it is, you just gave your plan away."

"It could also be part of my plan to let you think that it's my plan." Marie says before taking a drink from her own mug of coffee.

May desperately wanted to make a joke about Edd and Marie flirting, but she promised Marie she wouldn't. So she does the only thing she can, she changes the topic. "So where are you going to stay now Double Dee?" She asks taking a waffle out of the maker.

"Well, I guess I'll look into getting a dorm room again, but it takes time so I will probably look for a cheap hotel to stay in until one opens up. I'll have to ask my parents to increase my monthly spending though." Edd says before taking a drink from the coffee mug.

"Well that's stupid, you should just stay here instead of a hotel, until you find a dorm." May says not as she pores more waffle batter into the maker.

"Well I wouldn't want to impose upon you two."

"It's cool Double Dee, you're welcome to the couch until you find a dorm, that is if you think you can handle living with a pair of Kankers." Marie says putting one hand on her hip.

"I'm sure I can handle it." Edd says taking another drink from his mug.

"Good." Marie says taking her hand off her hip to open the fridge.

Taking her hand off her hip caused the tie on Marie's robe to slip loose and the front to fall open revealing that she was only wearing panties under her robe. Marie didn't notice this and when she turned away from the fridge showing Edd and May see all she has to offer.

"Um Marie, your uhh showing off the girls." May says holding in her laughter.

Marie looks down and sees what May means. "Oh shit!" She says closing her robe. "Sorry about that." She says as her face turns red.

Edd's face is also red. When he saw her robe open Edd immediately covered his eyes with his hand. "I swear I didn't see anything Marie." He says desperately trying to forget the image from his mind of Marie with her robe open, but he couldn't and that image will stay with him all day.

"Damn Marie, you need to be a bit more careful." May says grinning as she again wanted to make another joke about Marie and Edd.

Marie has the day off from the bar, so Edd walks with May as they left the building to take the train to their respective schools.

"I hope Marie's accidental revival didn't freak you out too much Double Dee." May says as Edd and her walk down the sidewalk together.

"It was rather shocking, but I'm not a little kid anymore May." Edd says still trying to get his mind to forget what he saw.

May couldn't help herself. "So what, you ENJOYED Marie's wardrobe malfunction?" She says cracking a joke at his expense.

Edd's face goes red. "I I never said that." He says as May starts to laugh.

"Oh it is good to see you haven't changed much Double Dee. That polite nerd is still inside you."

"I am more than just a polite nerd May, and I have to say that it is rather nice to see that you and Marie have changed. To think that I just spent the night in the home of my childhood tormentors is remarkable." Edd says pointing out that the sisters too have changed scene they were kids.

May smiles. "Moving away and getting a dad can do that. My dad accepted Marie and Lee like they were his own, even if Lee didn't like it."

"Why would she not wish to have a father figure?" Edd asks as they walk down the stairs to the subway station.

"I think it was cause Lee had to be, well Lee. She did all the stuff a parent would do for us back then. And when my dad came back into the picture, she no longer needed to do all that stuff."

"So Marie bonded with him too I take it?" Edd asks curious as to how Marie reacted to May's father.

"Yeah, when we first moved she was all broken up. She spent days just moping in her room, which was strange as heck at first having our own rooms, looking at that cactus of hers. But one day my dad went in and talked with her, about what she's never said. But whatever my dad said worked, and after that she stopped moping around."

Edd was at a loss for words, obviously he knew that it was his former cactus Jim that May said Marie would look at, but he wondered if Marie used the cactus as a way to stay connected to him and was not just a reminder of him. "huh." He says as he starts to space out in his thoughts as they waited for the train.

"She never did say where she got it from, but for whatever reason she is protective over that cactus like a mother bear over its cub. Marie even tried to scratch Lee's eye out when she took it once." May says not seeing Edd lost in his own thoughts.

"She must really care about him, the cactus that is."

"Yeah maybe." May says as she puts her hands behind her head and looks up at the sealing. "You know, she cared a lot about you too back in the day."

"What do you mean?" Edd asks looking down at May confused.

"Well where me and Lee just saw Ed and Eddy as targets to manipulate and have fun with, Marie would go on and on about her plans. How you would become some great scientist and win some big award and make a lot of money and would give her this grand and amazing life and all kinds of other plans she had for you. But then Marie was the more creative one of us, maybe she just liked to dream big." May says as the train stops in front of them.

Edd and May step onto the subway train and grab the bar above their heads. "Well having dreams are a good thing, they remind us of what is important and what we want to achieve in life, even if they are impossible." He says as the train starts to move.

"I won't argue with you on that one. My dream is to become a good cook, not a great one cause then there is a lot expected of you, just a good cook. I want to work at a place where people come in for my food. What about you Double Dee, what's your dream?" May asks wanting to know more about her new roommate.

"To make a difference. To do something that affected people's lives, to make this world a better place even if it's on a microscopic level in the grand scheme of it all. So long as I've made a difference in someone's life in a profound way I know I will have done right." Edd says telling May about his dream.

May grins, she's been enjoying talking to Edd, which she never thought she would ever do. "So either curing cancer, or giving a homeless guy five bucks."

"That's a bit vague, what I mean is that when I'm old I want to know that I've made someone else's life better. That they are happier or that they live an easier life because of me."He says looking out the window of the train at the underground wall covered in graffiti.

"Oh, well that is a big dream Double Dee, you sure you can achieve it?"

"All I can do is try." 

Edd has only one class for the day, that was two hours long, so after that he was making his way back to Marie and May's apartment.

Walking down the sidewalk Edd sees a burger restaurant that he's never eaten at but has walked by more times than he cared to count.

'I am rather hungry.' He thinks stopping in front of the restaurant. 'And seeing as how I will not be yelled at for eating a burger by Vicky anymore I don't see why I shouldn't.'

Waiting in the line to order Edd sees that the restaurant not only offers take out, but has a deal on two hamburger meals. 'Bringing Marie some lunch would be a nice gesture for letting me stay with her and May.' He thinks looking at the menu.

Edd did just that, and couldn't help but smile as he carried the bag containing his and Marie's lunch down the street. The smile continued to be on his face during the train ride and as he walked to the apartment.

When he reached the apartment it dawned on him that he doesn't have a key. "I hope Marie is still home." He says as he knocks on the door.

"Coming." He hears Marie yell through the door.

The door opens and Edd sees Marie not in her work clothes for the first time, a blue shirt with a pixelated skull on it and faded blue jeans. She also has her hair down with a few clumps hanging over her right eye.

"I should look into getting you a key shouldn't I?" Marie says returning the smile Edd has on his face.

"It could be helpful." Edd says as Marie stands to the side to let Edd into the apartment. "I come bearing gifts by the way." He says holding the paper bag up.

"Ooo, living together for less than a day and you're already spoiling me." Marie says as she closes the door.

"I wouldn't say it's spoiling, I just brought you some lunch." Edd says setting the bag down on the table next to his school stuff.

'God damn is he nice, not to mentioned nice to look at- damn it brain, stop that.' Marie thinks as her faint, but growing, feeling for Edd sneak attack her. "So what did ya bring me?" She asks as Edd digs through the paper bag.

"Just a burger and fries." Edd says pulling the two burgers wrapped in white paper out of the bag.

"Well thank ya none the less." Marie says as she pulls out one of the chairs to sit on while Edd removed the containers of fries.

As Edd sits down a light turns on in Marie's head. "Oh how could I forget." She says getting off her chair. She turns and opens the fridge and removes a bottle of ketchup. "We cannot forget the ketchup." She says setting the bottle down on the table. "And if we're going to have fries, we have to eat them The Kanker Way." She adds, opening one of the cupboards with plates and bowls in it.

"The Kanker Way?" Edd asks as he unfolds a napkin and places it on his lap.

Marie sets a large plate down on the table. "Ok, so back even before I knew you getting fast food was a rarity for us. Mom couldn't even afford to get us three our own things of fries when she would treat us. So she would take the few boxes she did get and dump them onto a plate for us to share. She called it "The Kanker Way of Eating Fries", but really it was just a way to have us share them without making us think about the fact we couldn't each get our own fries. But it worked and we've always had our fries like this. The first time we did it with my step dad it confused him, but when Mom explained it to him he just laughed it off and let us keep doing it." She says dumping the two servings of fries onto the plate.

"I have to say I'm sorry Marie."

"What for?" She asks sitting back down at the table.

"For not giving you the time to get to know you back in Peach Creek. I think we could have been friends if I had just taken the time to talk to you instead of running away from you like you were a monster."

"I was a bit of a monster back then Double Dee." Marie says eating a frie.

"Well you're not now. And I hope you consider me a friend Marie."

"I'll be your friend if you'll be mine."

Edd smiles. "Agreed, it's nice to be friends with you Marie." He says holding his hand out to Marie.

Marie takes his hand and shakes it. "Nice to be your friend too Double Dee." She says smiling at him.

They shook their hands up and down a few times and then stopped, but they didn't let go of each other's hand. Marie and Edd both look at their hands joined together. They both feel their hearts start to pick up pace and they start to blush.

Slowly Edd pulls his hand out of Marie's. "So um... here's your burger." He says handing Marie the hamburger meant for her.

"Thanks." She says taking the hamburger from Edd. 'Damn it damn it! We need to stop doing that.' She thinks scolding herself for once again losing control over her emotions.

"So, did you apply for a dorm room again?" She asks not wanting an awkward silence fall between them.

Edd unwraps his hamburger. "I did, but they told me it could take several months before one opens up."

"So it looks like you're stuck with us for a while then." Marie says with a grin before she took a bite out of her hamburger.

Edd wipes his face with a napkin before saying; "If it is too much of a bother I can find somewhere else to stay.

"I already told ya, you can stay for as long as ya need to Double Dee."

"I just feel like I'm going to mess with the way you and May do things."

"It's going to be a little different, but the way I see it is I have someone to be on my side when May and I argue over something. Plus you know, you're kind of family now." Marie says as a shy smile comes to her face.

For some reason Edd really likes the idea of being considered family by Marie. "Thank you for thinking of me as such Marie." He says as he smiles shyly.

For the rest of their meal Edd and Marie stayed quiet and wouldn't look directly at each other. Marie doing it because she didn't want to risk anymore accidental flirting and Edd was doing so to avoid making their current situation feel more awkward.

They would avoid talking to each other much for the rest of the night up until the residents of the apartment were going to bed.

"Gnight Double Dee." Marie says from her bedroom door as Edd unfolded his blanket.

"Have a good night's rest Marie." Edd says back to her with a smile. Marie smiles back at him and then closes her door leaving Edd alone in the main room of the apartment.

'I hope a dorm opens up soon, I don't know how long I can go without making our current situation too uncomfortable for Marie.' Edd thinks as he lies down on the couch.

As Marie lays in her bed looking up at her ceiling she felt like the bed was too empty, a feeling she hasn't had since the move from Peach Creek. "Stupid bed." She says rolling over onto her side and closing her eyes.

 _ ***knock knock***_

 _"What?" Thirteen year old Marie says from atop her brand new bed in her own room._

 _"It's me." Marie hears May say through the door._

 _"What do you want?" Marie asks back wiping away the tears she had in her eyes. Cry has been something Marie has been doing the past several nights when she was sure no one would see, her heartbreak over leaving Edd is still fresh but she didn't want her sisters to see her being weak._

 _"Can I come in?"_

 _"Yeah." Marie says and the door opens and her younger sister walks in holding her pillow to her chest._

 _"What's with the late night visit?" Marie asks as May shuts the door._

 _May buries her chin into her pillow. "It's really quite in my room." May says trying to hide the fact that she is a little afraid of the dark in their new home._

 _Marie looks at her sister. She could tell May didn't want to be alone, and neither did Marie, but she was too stubborn to admit it. "Fine, you can sleep in here with me." Marie says rolling her eyes and moving over to the side of her bed._

 _May smiles and runs and jumps onto Marie's bed. "Thanks Marie." She says as she crawls under Marie's blanket._

 _"Yeah Yeah, just don't make a habit of this." Marie says as she lays down and rolls over onto her side with her back to May._

 _"Hey Marie." May says preventing Marie from trying to go to sleep._

 _Marie rolls back onto her back. "What May?" She says looking over at her sister who's looking up at the ceiling_

 _"This... this is real right?"_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"This house, moving to New York, our own rooms and... MY dad coming back."_

 _Marie looks up at the ceiling herself and then over to the window where her new cactus that she stole from Edd was sitting. It's only been a few days since they reached New York, and Marie hated this move and she really missed Edd. It's why she took his cactus, so she would have something to remember her first love, even if he didn't share her feelings._

 _Marie lets out a sigh and blinks fighting back her tears of sadness. "Yeah its real May. We got our own rooms now in a real house in New York AND Rod and Mom got back together."_

 _"He left when I was five right?"_

 _"Yeah around then, but it was Mom that left him. According to Lee."_

 _"Then why did Mom and him get back together after all this time?"_

 _"I don't know May. Adults are stupid like that."_

 _"Its cause your old man is loaded." May and Marie hear Lee says from the door._

 _"What are you doing in here Lee?" Marie asks looking over at her door to see her other sister standing in her room._

 _"You two are being so loud that I could hear ya in my room." Lee says pointing at the wall of the room that separated the sisters._

 _"Ok, so we'll be quiet. Anything else?" Marie asks snapping at Lee._

 _"Well seeing as this is a slumber party you got going on I thought I'd invite myself." Lee says throwing her pillow at Marie._

 _"Ugh, fine." Marie says moving closer to May so Lee could lie on the other side of her._

 _Lee knocks Marie further over with her hip and then sits down on the bed._

 _"You really think it's cause my dad has a lot of money is why Mom and him got back together?" May asks as she moves to the edge of the bed._

 _"I don't think that's the only reason she did it." Marie says feeling a sense of comfort from having her sisters next to her in the bed like they had done for years living in the trailer that is now sitting empty in the driveway._

 _"What, you think it was love that brought them back together?" Lee asks pulling Marie's blanket over herself._

 _"Well, maybe." May says._

 _"Were Kankers, all four of us. We don't believe in love." Lee says pointing over Marie at May._

 _"It was just a thought, what about you Marie? Why do you think Mom and my dad are back together?"_

 _Marie has always believed in the idea of love, when she first laid eyes on Edd she was sure that she was in love with him. But she's never told her sisters this fact. "Well, maybe he has a big-"_

 _"None of that." Lee says smacking Marie on the head. "Just, go to sleep you saps." She says wanting her sisters to stop the convention they were having._

 ***Beep beep***

Marie's alarm goes off waking her up from the dream she was having about her and her sisters. 'It was love that brought Mom and Dad back together.' She thinks as she opens her eyes.

 ***Beep beep***

The alarm goes off again and this time Marie reaches over and turns it off. As she thought about her dream of the night the sisters shared a bed again and the talk they had about love, even if it was short, reminded her of how her mother and stepfather acted after the move to New York.

Marie would see them looking and smiling at each other randomly and she'd hear them talking lovey dovey to each other when they thought none of the sisters were around. And it was shortly after Marie's fifteenth birthday that Rod came to the sisters and asked them for their ok for him to ask their mother to marry him. May was extremely happy for them, Marie was just a normal level of happy and Lee didn't seem to care.

After the wedding Marie and Lee were even officially adopted by Rod, for legal reason, making them an official family, but he let the sisters keep the last name Kanker, which all three did. This was the start of their "Kanker Life" lifestyle that the sisters came up with to keep strong to what they did as sister to keep their heads held high as they made it through the hard life they lived.

Marie throws her blanket off and moves to the side of the bed. "We need to take a trip to see Mom and Dad again when we get the time too." She says thinking it's been long enough without seeing her parents.

"Good morning Marie." Edd says from the table where he was working on his laptop.

"You're up early." Marie says scratching the back of her head as she walked out of her room.

Edd looks back down at his laptop and starts typing again. "I have a report I need to turn in today that I should have finished a day ago, but I kind of forgot about it."

Marie stretches as she walks into the kitchen to start making coffee. "Well it was a crazy day."

"That is one way to describe it."

"You want some coffee?"

"Yes please." Edd says not looking away from his laptop.

Marie gets the coffee maker going and then turns around and watches Edd work. He has a look of great focus as he looked at the screen and typed.

"Nice laptop by the way Double Dee." Marie says complimenting him on his computer.

Edd stops typing and stretches his arms up. "Thank you, it was a gift from Mother and Father last Christmas."

"Ya got any games on it?" She asks opening a cupboard to retrieve some mugs for coffee.

"I do not." Edd says going back to typing.

"Well what good is it if there aren't any games on it?" Marie asks setting the mugs down on the counter

"It is intended for my school work Marie."

"And you call yourself a Nerd."

Edd stops typing and turns around in his chair to face Marie. "I am a Nerd yes, but I'm more academically inclined over video games and other such things that would earn someone the title of Nerd."

"Oh, so you're a Dork then." Marie says crossing her arms and razing an eyebrow at him.

"Hum, I think Geek would be the more fitting description."

Marie lets out a laugh. "You're hilarious Double Dee." She says as Edd grins at her.


	4. Chapter 4

Life living with Marie and May was anything but boring for Edd. Every day he would find himself laughing at something one of the sisters did or said, and he would do or say something that made one of them laugh.

Edd and Marie did the best that they could to control their growing fondness for each other, but it was a task that was becoming harder and harder to do, especially if it was Edd and Marie alone in the apartment.

Edd is sitting at the table working on his school work when his cell phone rings.

He picks up his phone and answers it without looking at who is calling him. "Hello Eddward's phone, Eddward speaking." He says into his phone as he continues to work on his homework.

"Hello Eddward, how's New York?" The voice on the other end of the line says.

"Mother, this is a pleasant surprise." He says recognizing the vice on the other end of the call as his mother.

"I'm glad I caught you out of class. I sent you the check for this month, but I got it back with "Doesn't live here" written on it. Did I maybe get the wrong address?"

Edd had forgotten about telling his parents about his change of address and the reason for it. "No, I'm sure you had the right address Mother. But Vicky must have sent it back."

"Why would she do that?"

Edd lets out a sigh, he knows how much his parents both liked Vicky, to them she was the perfect example of what Edd should have as a girlfriend and he knows he is about to break his mother's heart. "We broke up." He says not feeling any pain from telling his mother that his girlfriend of over three years and him are no longer together.

"Oh Eddward, I'm sorry to hear that. You two were so cute together." His mother says with a great amount of sympathy in her voice.

"I appreciate the gesture Mother, but I'm fine about it."

"What happened between you two? If you don't mind me asking."

Edd pauses for a second. He definitely did not want to tell his mother that he cheated on Vicky, got the girl he cheated with pregnant and they are now living together because Vicky dumped him. So carefully he chose his words.

"We just grew apart. She had different ideas about what our relationship meant then I did." He says hoping it was enough for his mother.

"Well I'm still sorry about that, where are you staying now?"

"Some friends are letting me stay with them."

"Oh you've made some new friend? Are they nice?"

"They are, and they have been nothing but good hosts to me."

"It's nice to hear you've made some new friends. How long do you plan to stay with them?"

"I put in an application for a dorm room, but I'm not sure how long it will be until I get one though. But my friends are letting me stay for as long as I need to."

"I see, well do keep you Father and me informed."

"I will Mother."

Edd gave his mother the mailing address of May and Marie's apartment before they hung up and he went back to his school work.

"I should do something to help out around here." He says once he's finished with his homework.

Looking around the apartment Edd sees that it is mostly clean, but there are places here and there that have gone overlooked. "Well cleaning is definitely a way to help." He says as he gets up from the chair.

Edd found some cleaning supplies under the sink and for the rest of the day and into the evening he worked on cleaning Marie and May's apartment. 

Edd was focused on his work so much that hours later when the door opened her didn't hear it.

"What are ya doing Double Dee?" Marie asks seeing Edd standing on top of a chair while wiping the blades of the ceiling fan with a rag.

"Cleaning, I noticed several places you have missed when you have cleaned your home Marie." Edd says as he steps off of the chair.

Marie looks around the apartment as Edd puts the chair back under the table. "It must have been a lot, cause we've always half assed it when we've clean." She says not noticing a difference in how the apartment looks.

"It wasn't too many places, just a few that most tend to overlook when cleaning." Edd says admiring his handy work.

"Second question, why are you cleaning?"

"I wanted to do something the help out around your home."

"Oh, well thanks Double Dee."

"You're welcome Marie. I hope you don't mind, but I had to move Jim to clean the top of his table."

Normally Marie would over react if someone touched Jim, it's why she dumped her last boyfriend, but she didn't have any problem with Edd touching his former cactus. "You didn't water him did ya? Cause I have special stuff I water him with and it's not time yet." She says as she walked over to her cactus to make sure it is in the window at the right spot.

Edd opened the cupboard under the sink to put the cleaning supplies away. "I did not, I figured you had a schedule for watering him. I do have to say that you have taken very good care of him, and the transplant you did seems to have not affected his growth." He says as he arranged the bottles in the order the sisters had them prior to his cleaning.

Edd had placed Jim back in the exact same spot he was in, but he wasn't facing the sun at an angle Marie was happy with. "He was getting too big for the old pot. I think my mom still has it, if you want it back." She says turning the pot slightly.

"If she can find a use for it, she is welcomed to keep it."

"K. So May is going to be at school all night so it'll just be us for dinner."

"She sure does spend a lot of time at school." Edd says getting up from the floor.

"She in the final phase of it so it's mostly working in the student run restaurant her school has."

"I see, well what would you like for dinner then?"

Marie didn't have to think about his question, she's had that answer for most of the day.

"Something with cheese. I have a craving for cheese and I'm not sure why."

Edd found Marie's craving for cheese a little cute, but he shakes off the thought. "Well let me look and see what you have on hand and I'll see what I can whip up." He says before he starts looking through the cupboards and the fridge.

His time of living with Vicky has made Edd a decent cook, so after looking around the kitchen and thinking on it Edd came up with a dish with cheese that he thought Marie would enjoy.

"Ok, I have an idea of what to make. If you'd like, you can go and watch some TV while I cook it."

"Going cook for me are ya?" Marie says crossing her arms and smiling.

"Well I have an idea and it doesn't require more than one person to make, I just figured you'd prefer to sit and relax instead of cook."

"I will not complain about you doing the cooking." Marie says before walking around and sitting down on the couch.

Edd couldn't help but watch her walk away and smile about preparing a meal for Marie. Shaking his head to snap himself out of the trance he'd fallen into Edd turns and starts removing cookware from the cupboard.

He starts off by bringing a pot of water to a boil and then adds some of the elbow noodles he found and then started to boil a few hotdogs in a smaller pot as the noodles cook.

Once the noodles and hotdogs are done he strains out the noodles and puts them back into the pot they were in and then proceeds to cut up the hotdogs into small pieces and adds them to the noodles. Finally he takes a block of cheddar cheese from the fridge and uses a cheese grater to shred the cheese into fine little strips over the noodles and hotdog pieces.

When he was satisfied with the amount of cheese he turns the range back on and stirs the contents of the pot with a wooden spoon as the cheese melts.

"Ok, I'm done." He says turning off the stove top happy with how his dish turned out.

"What did ya make?" Marie asks getting up from the couch.

Edd starts to remove a pair of plates from the cupboards. "Well there wasn't much to work with ingredients wise."

"Yeah we need to go shopping here someday." Marie says as she sits down at the table.

"But none the less I was able to come up with something that would fit your craving for cheese." Edd says carrying the pot over to the table.

"Oh yeah?"

Edd sets the pot down onto the table and says; "Yes, I present to you an Edd Vincent original, elbow noodles with cut up hot dogs covered in melted cheese."

Marie looks into the pot as Edd retrieves the plates from the counter. "First off that sounds like a Kanker meal, and second that sounds so odd it has to be good." She says curious as to how the dish will taste.

Edd sets one of the plates down in front of Marie. "I have yet to try it myself, so I cannot say if it will be good." He says setting his own plate down. Edd then uses the wooden spoon to serve out the contents of the pot onto Marie's and then his plate.

Marie uses her fork and takes a bite out of the dish Edd has made for her. "Its, different." She says swallowing the bite of food.

"I'm terribly sorry Marie, I'll make you something else." He says thinking that his experimental cooking was unenjoyable.

"I didn't say it was bad Double Dee, just different. And it's a good different." She says taking a second bite from the dish. "Needs ketchup though."

Edd was relieved to hear that she likes the meal. He was worrying just like a boyfriend who had just cooked for his girlfriend for the first time when Marie tried the dish. And when she said it was good he felt a sense of pride fill him.

"Allow me to get you some ketchup them." He says opening the fridge.

"You should know that as a Kanker, everything is better with ketchup."

Edd sets the bottle down on the table and sits down himself. "I will remember that." He says as Marie starts to squirt ketchup onto her food.

Marie squirts a good amount of ketchup onto the plate of food and then sets the bottle down on the table and uses her fork to mix up the food.

"You really do like your ketchup." Edd says as he watches Marie take a bite of her food.

Marie smiles at him. "Mmm hmm." She says with a mouth full of food.

Edd then takes a bite from his own plate, and he likes it. "It is good."

"Here, try it with ketchup." Marie says offering him a bite from her plate.

Edd takes her fork and eats the bite. "Ketchup does make it better." he says finding that ketchup does add to the flavor.

"Told ya." Marie says taking her fork back.

Edd then adds some ketchup to his own dish, not nearly as much as Marie did though.

"So, how was your day at work?" Edd asks making small talk with Marie.

Marie finishes her bite of food. "Eh, same stuff, different day." she says with a shrug.

"I didn't think that bartending would ever be boring for you." Edd asks taking a bite of his food.

"Not at all, Bartending is always a lot of fun to me, today was just slow. Mixing the right amount of each different kind of liquor isn't something everyone can do from memory, and when you are as good as I am where you can make drinks all from memory, it just adds to the awesomeness." Marie says as her face lights up.

Edd can see the passion Marie has for her career. "Sounds like it was your calling to be a bartender Marie."

Marie laughs "I wish I had know it was when I was younger, I would have started it a long time ago." She says with a smile on her face.

"I take it you didn't know what you wanted to be when you grew up?"

"I had several plans of what I wanted to be. Let's see, there was a mechanic, professional wrestler, actress believe it or not, and a housewife." She says counting each one on her fingers.

"That is a well rounded list, but I have to say a housewife just doesn't sound like the Marie Kanker I know."

"Yeah, it was a stupid dream I had when I was a little kid. It involved a super geek and a little mental manipulation." Marie says hinting that she wanted to be Edd's house wife when she was a kid. "But what about you Double Dee? Did you have any career dreams as a kid?" She asks hoping to distract Edd from thinking more on her being a housewife.

"All kinds, computer programmer, biologist, criminal psychiatrist, theoretical physicist. But I chose engineering in the end." Edd says naming off his list of careers he thought of perusing as a kid.

"Why engineering? I get that you were always building stuff for Eddy and I can see that carrying over, but that can't be why." Marie asks moving her food around on her plate, she's become more interested in talking to Edd then eating at the moment.

"It's because it is really a lot of fun. Engineering is what makes the modern world work. That computer of mine? Its design was made up by an engineer who needed to get everything it needs to work into the shape it has. Cars, boats and planes, all though up with engineering." Edd says, his own face lighting up.

"Anything in particular you want to work on?" She asks setting her fork down on her plate and crossing her arms on the table in front of her.

"Honestly? Public transportation." He says crossing his own arms on the table.

Marie's eyes grow wide. "What really?"

"Yes. When I first choose this as my major for college I had hopes of working for NASA, but as I lived here in New York I saw firsthand how ineffective a lot of the public transportation system is."

Marie just couldn't see Edd working in public transportation. "You know that you're going to be getting dirty if you're going to work on that stuff, like REALLY dirty." She says pointing out the one thing that might bother him the most.

"I've thought about that, but I want to do something to help people Marie."

"And it doesn't bother you that you might have to get down in the mud?"

Edd shrugs his shoulders. "It's just dirt."

"Wow Double Dee. When we were kids you would freak out over getting dirty."

"I'm not a kid anymore, I've gotten use to the concept of a hard day's work will earn you some grime on your hands."

Marie couldn't help it as her mind starts to form images of Edd doing manual labor and she started to blush when it changed to him working with his shirt off. Quickly she shakes her head to clear the images from her head. "Well thanks for cooking for me Double Dee." She says hoping Edd hadn't caught her bushing.

Edd however did see her cheeks shine with a hint of red, but he was unsure why she blushed and just chose to ignore it. "You're welcome Marie. I know I'm not that good, but it's always fun to do."

"Just don't let May hear that you cooked, she will hound you for hours about what you made."

"It seems passion run in your family."

"More then you know." Marie says quickly under her breath.

"I'm sorry?" Edd says missing what she said.

"Nothing." Marie says as she goes back to eating.

After they finished eating the dinner Edd made for them Marie chose to help him with the clean up.

"If you'd rather do something else Marie I can handle washing the few dishes we dirtied." Edd says as Marie fills the sink with hot water.

"I can't let you do all the work, what kind of hostess would I be if I made the guest in my home do all the chores?" She responds back as she places the few dirty dishes into the sink.

Edd grins. "It sounds like I'm rubbing off on you Marie." He says noticing how proper her statement was.

Marie looks at Edd at starts to laugh. "Oh god Double Dee, phrasing man, phrasing." She says in between laughs.

Edd has no idea what she is talking about and raises his eyebrow in confusion. "I am not sure what you mean Marie." He says as she starts to take deep breaths to try and control her laughter.

Wiping a tear out of her eye she says; "It's what you said. It's something that if taken out of context it could sound very VERY dirty."

"I-." Edd says finally understanding what she was talking about. "Oh my. I am terribly sorry Marie for that inappropriate statement." He says as his face turns a deep shade of red.

"Don't be sorry Double Dee, I took it out of context and I found it funny. I just have a dirty mind." She says adding soap to the water.

"You're the first woman I've met that's admitted to that." Edd says as he starts to wash their plates.

Marie looks over at Edd with shock on her face. "What really? Have you been around a bunch of prods?"

Edd hands Marie the plate he was washing. "Peach Creek is a small little suburb town remember Marie. If there was anyone that did have a less than, clean mind, I'm sure they kept it to themselves." He says reminding her that his home town is a small town where everyone knows almost everyone else.

"It's a good thing you live in New York now then, perverted people in the thousands."

"First hand experience?" He asks with a smile.

Marie returns the smile. "Maybe." She says as Edd looks at her and starts to laugh.

'See brain, we can spend time with Double Dee as just a friend.' Marie thinks to herself as Edd laughs thinking that what they were doing wasn't flirting.

* * *

Days later when the contents of the fridge and cupboards reached the point that shopping couldn't be put off any longer Marie decided that she should head down to the store and restock the apartment.

With her cloth bags in hand Marie opens the door and runs into the person she is always happy to see. "Hey Double Dee, perfect timing." She says to Edd when she sees him outside the door looking for his key.

"Hello Marie, what am I in time for?" He asks putting his ring of keys away.

"I'm going to the store and I could use your help."

"My help? With what may I ask?"

Grinning Marie says; "You're going to be my bag bitch."

"I'm going to be your what?" Edd says thinking he missed heard her.

"I want, well would like you too, help me carry everything back from the store. May made me a list and she wants a lot of crap and I just know it's going to be more than I could carry on my own. So would you be up for lending me a hand?" Marie says as she steps out of the way so Edd could enter the apartment.

Edd didn't need to think on the request. "How could I not agree to such a request. Let me put my bag down and I we can head for the market." He says walking over to the table.

Marie smiles. "You enjoy playing up the gentleman act, don't you?" She asks as Edd pulls the strap to his bag over his head.

"What makes you think it's an act? For all you know my lady I could very well be the very model of a modern day gentleman." Edd says as he rejoined Marie at by the door.

"I... um what?" Marie says confused by what he said as they leave the apartment.

Edd laughs. "I guess I did play it up too much."

"Yeah, just a bit." Marie says holding her thumb and index finger up about an inch apart.

"I do apologize then Marie." He says with a small bow.

"No need to Double Dee, being odd like that is part of what make you cu- I mean how was class today? Learn anything cool?" Marie says quickly changing the subject in hopes that Edd wouldn't catch her slip up. 'Fuck shit damn it brain.' She thinks scolding herself for letting it slip that she thinks Edd and the odd way of talking is cute.

Edd choose to let Marie's misdirection work. "It was good, had a test today so didn't learn much other then I need to stop living in the past and start using mechanical pencils instead of old fashion wood ones."

"Kept breaking your pencil?"

"I did."

"And you had to take the time to sharpen it to the perfect point didn't you."

"I- how would you know I do that?" Edd asks amazed that Marie guessed one of his obsessive compulsive habits.

"Cause you did it when we were kids."

"That I did, it's nice that you rem-" Edd started to say but stopped when he sees Vicky getting out of a cab in front of her building. Edd was so wrapped up in talking to Marie that he didn't notice they were walking in the direction of Vicky's building.

Marie also sees Vicky. "You ok Double Dee?" She asks placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I fine, but Vicky just looks so... different." He says taking comfort in her hand being on his shoulder.

"Do you want to go and try and talk to her?"

Edd watches Vicky walk into the building. "As much as I am sure it would help her Marie, I think her seeing me wouldn't do her any good. We all make our own choices in life and have to live with them."

"Ok, but just don't do anything you might regret." Marie says as they resume their walk to the store.

Edd looks at Vickys building and sighs, he then looks at Maire and smiles. "I wont do anything like that Marie."

"Good. So what was SHE going to school for? I really doubt that you can major in being a prick."

Edd knows that he should scold Marie for calling Vicky a prick, but he also knows she could have used a more explicit word to describe Vicky. "She majored in English history."

"I didn't know you could major in the history of the brits."

"It was a unique topic yes, but it was her drive for it that I fell in love with."

"Do you still, lover her that is?"

"I think... there will always be a little bit of love for her, but it will never be what it once was."

Hearing Edd say that he is over Vick made Maire happy.

The store was only a few blocks away from their apartment, it wasn't a very big store but it did have everything they needed to restock the apartment.

Without asking Edd grabbed a cart for Marie to load up with her shopping. "Lead the way." He says with a smile as they walk into the store.

Marie drops her bags into the cart and then takes out the list May gave her from her back pocket. "The crap May likes, I tell ya." She says looking over the list.

"I take it she has a detailed list of supplies for you to get?"

"Yeah, she wants three different kinds of cheeses, cage free eggs, a bunch of different vegetables and butter milk, just to name a few of them."

"Three different cheese?" Edd asks a little shocked.

Marie stuffs the list back into her pocket. "Eh, it's her usual craziness." She says with a shrug.

As they walked around the store finding the items on May's list and other things needed for the apartment the other people in the shop were assuming that Edd and Marie were a couple by the way they were acting. Marie was not controlling herself as much as she should be and was teasing Edd as they walked around the store.

"Hey Double Dee." Marie says as they stop in front of a rack of potato chips.

"Yes Marie?" Edd asks.

Marie clasps her hands behind her back and gives Edd a look with a hint of flirtation and says; "Would you mind getting that bag of chips from the top shelf, pretty please?" She asks knowing full well that she is flirting with Edd. 'Nothing wrong with just playing around, it's not like we'll run into anyone that we know.' She'd thought when she flirted with him the first time.

"Sure Marie, but I do recommend that we also get some items of the more healthy variety, to help you and the baby." Edd says reaching up and grabbing the bag of potato chips from the top shelf.

"Look at you, caring about what I eat."

Edd didn't think about what he said when he said it, it was just something that his mind full of knowledge knew and he just let the knowledge out. But now that he is thinking about it, he does care about Marie and their child's wellbeing. "I do care about your health Marie, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't want the both of you to be healthy?"

"Well thanks Double Dee, it's really nice of yo-"

"Marie? Is dat you?" a voice says from behind Edd and Marie.

Marie turns around and sees an older woman standing a few feet away from them. "Oh my, hello Mrs. Stuvengoff." Marie says recognizing the woman.

"Look at you Marie, all grown up." Mrs. Stuvengoff says walking the few feet between them. "Come here and give me a hug, it had been too many years."

Marie hugs Mrs. Stuvengoff while Edd remains quiet, not wanting to interrupt the reunion.

"And who is this young man, da father I hope?" Mrs. Stuvengoff says turning to Edd.

"What do you mean Mrs. Stuvengoff?" Marie asks.

"Don't you try and hide it from me Marie, I helped birth many a chaffs back home. I know when someone is with child." Mrs. Stuvengoff says pointing at Maire.

'Please play along Double Dee.' Marie thinks looking at Edd with a pleading look. "Well yeah this is the dad… Mrs. Stuvengoff this is Eddward, my boyfriend. Eddward this is Mrs. Stuvengoff."

Edd saw the look on Marie's face and understands its meaning, but he was still shocked that not only did the older woman figure out that Marie is pregnant, but Marie calling him her boyfriend as well. "He- Hello Mrs. Stuvengoff, it's nice to meet you." He says stuttering his words from the shock.

"He looks like a nice boy Marie, not like dat one I met the last I saw you." Mrs. Stuvengoff says looking Edd over.

"Eddward is a really great guy, I don't know what I ever saw in Scott honestly." Marie says smiling at Edd.

"Dat boy was bad Marie, you there Eddward." Mrs. Stuvengoff says pointing at Edd. "You take good care of Marie and da baby." She says giving him a very serious look.

Edd puts his arm around Marie's shoulder. "I can assure you Mrs. Stuvengoff that I will, Marie is the most important person in the world to me."

"Good, I also assume your mother is sending you her ring yes?" Mrs. Stuvengoff asks looking at Marie's hands.

Edd is confused by her question and asks; "Why would my mother send me a ring Mrs. Stuvengoff?"

"Does your family not pass down wedding rings?" Mrs. Stuvengoff asks with her own question.

Marie and Edd's face grows red. "Mrs. Stuvengoff, Eddward and I are not getting married anytime soon." Marie says extremely embarrassed.

"Bah, you modern kids…" Mrs. Stuvengoff says waving her hand in the air as if she was swatting a fly away.

Wanting to change the subject away from the fake relationship Edd and her are having Marie asks; "So what are you doing in the city Mrs. Stuvengoff?"

"Dat son of mine. He invited me to come visit for dinner, but he not have everything to make family favorite dish. So I come to da store."

"Well we will let you get back to your shopping Mrs. Stuvengoff, wouldn't want to keep Albert waiting." Marie says not wanting to stop talking to Mrs. Stuvengoff. but the longer they talked the more of a chance Maire has to slip up on her lie.

"Dat son can wait for his mother, you two be go to each other and take care of dat baby. Tell your mother I say hello, I do not see her much anymore."

"We will, and I will tell her Mrs. Stuvengoff." Marie says glad that they were able to get out of talking to the old woman as soon as they did.

Mrs. Stuvengoff waves as she walks away from Edd and Marie, and once she was out of earshot Marie sighs and leans on the cart for support.

"Holy crap. Thank you soo much for playing along Double Dee, I never would have thought to see Mrs. Stuvengoff here." Marie says as Edd takes his arm off of her shoulders, despite not really wanting too.

"Friend of your mothers I take it?"

"Yeah, they worked together in the hospital as part of the housekeeping."

Hoping to lift her spirits Edd chooses to make a joke with the knowledge he has just received. "So should I know who this Scott person is?"

"What? Oh… he is my ex boyfriend, he is such an asshole, I don't know why I kept him around for as long as I did. All he ever did was mess with my stuff and want to go to parties."

"So should I be jealous of anything?"

"What? No Double Dee. Quit being a jerk." Marie says punching Edd in the arm.

It was a playful punch so it didn't hurt him. "Ok Marie, I just wanted to make sure. Seeing as far as Mrs. Stuvengoff knows I am your boyfriend."

"I had to tell her that. If she found out that we are just friends she would literally drag me all the way back to my parent's house and tell my mother, and I am not ready to tell Mom yet."

"I understand Marie, I have no idea how to tell my own parents. But if it will be any help, I will be there with you when you tell your mother and stepfather."

"Your folks are probably going to freak aren't they?" Marie asks as they start walking down the aisle again.

"They are going to react very aggressively." Edd says looking down at the floor. Edd knows that his parents will be anything but happy with him when they find out about Marie being pregnant.

Marie places her hand on top of Edd on the handle of the cart. "Well seeing as you're going to back me up, it will only be fair for me to do the same for you." She says squeezing his hand.

Edd looks down at their hand and without thinking moves his fingers apart so their fingers lace together on the handle of the cart. "Thank you Marie." He says looking up from their hands.

Marie squeezes his hand again before taking her own off the cart. "No prob Double Dee."

When they went to check out and pay for their groceries Edd was able to convince Marie to let him pay for half of the bill.

"Whew, glad were done with that." Marie says as Edd and her exit the store.

Edd, who was carrying the heavier of the bags, adjusts his grip on the bags. "It wasn't that bad in all reality." He says silently wishing he had more upper body strength so the bags wouldn't put as much of a burden on him.

"You didn't get surprised by an old family friend." Marie says pointing at Edd.

"Mrs. Stuvengoff was a bit of a surprise."

"She was, but hey, it makes like fun right?" Marie says giving Edd a smile.

"Life has been quite fun as of late."

Later that night Edd is lying down on the couch waiting for sleep to take him. He should have fallen asleep almost an hour ago but he can't get his mind off of what happened at the store. When Marie called him her boyfriend he was shocked, but not as much as he thought he would have been. And it almost felt natural to him when he put his arm around her.

'And when our hands were together on the cart, it was… nice.' He thinks as he looks at the hand that Marie had squeezed earlier that day.

* * *

 _"Dude, what are you doing?" Nazz, a blond girl in a white tank top over a black T-shirt and jeans, asks Edd who is sitting at a table in the corner of Eddy's backyard._

 _Eddy has gone and thrown the biggest party the cul-de-sack has ever seen in celebration of the Kanker sisters moving away. Eddy invited all of the kids from the cul-de-sack, and several kids from their school._

 _"Hum?" Edd says looking up at Nazz._

 _Edd has never been one for parties, and even more so at this one. He is sitting on Eddy's lawn furniture looking at the wrist band that he found at the trailer park._

 _"I asked why are you hiding back here instead of joining in the party."_

 _"I just don't feel like up to joining in the festivities Nazz." Edd says putting the band away into his pocket._

 _"Come on Double Dee, you should be one of the happiest people in all of Peach Creek. Marie Kanker is gone, and probably for good."_

 _Edd knows that logically he should be happy that Marie and her sisters are gone, but something just feels out of place. "I'm sorry Nazz, but happy is not an emotion I feel right now."_

 _Nazz sits down next to Edd. "Dude, you're just not use to having to not live in fear of Marie. It's time for you to start having a normal life." She says looking out at the crowd of kids having fun in Eddy's back yard._

 _"A normal life huh." Edd says also looking at the kids._

 _"Yeah, so smile Double Dee and have some fun with your life now."_

 _Edd takes a deep breath. "Ok Nazz, what do you suggest I do to have fun with my life."_

 _"That's easy. Laugh with your friends, spend time with the people that are important to you and do stuff to make those people and you happy"_


	5. Chapter 5

Edd has come to accept the fact that he has developed feelings for Marie, but he's not sure what form of feelings they are. Does he love Marie? Does he care because she is pregnant? Or is it just feelings of friendship? He doesn't know yet, but this question was mixing around Edd's head as he entered the apartment.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the loud rock music playing, or see Marie dancing around the apartment.

"Oh hey Double Dee." Marie says not interrupting her unrhythmic dancing.

Edd snaps back to reality at the sound of his name. "Hello Marie… What are you doing?" He asks as Marie almost hits the couch.

"What does it look like? I'm jamming out." She says as she starts to move towards him.

"Ok…" He says unsure what he is watching.

Marie grabs him by the arm. "Come on Double Dee, rock out with me." She says pulling him into the middle of the apartment.

Edd has no idea how to join her in her chaotic dancing style, but he tried to none the less. Moving his arms around and stepping randomly.

It was obvious to Marie that Edd doesn't know how to dance. "Wow, you suck Double Dee." She says holding back her laughter.

"I have no idea how you do this." He says giving up on attempting to dance.

Marie also stops dancing. "It's cool, not everyone knows how to dance."

"I know how to dance, just not like you." Edd says as he walks over to his open laptop on the table.

Marie turns off her stereo with a remote. "Oh? Then how do you dance?" She asks crossing her arms.

Edd moves his mouse and clicks it a few times before turning back to Marie. "Like this." He says as classical string music starts to play from his laptop.

Edd crosses the room back to Marie and takes one of her hand with his and places his other on her hip. "Just follow me."He says as he starts to waltzes with her.

Marie is lost for words, she remembers having to do this dance in school years ago, but Edd is clearly better at it than she ever was.

"I'm not embarrassing you am I?" Edd asks noticing that Marie's cheeks are turning red as they dance together.

"What no, it's kind of cool that ya know how to dance. Like proper dancing." She says moving closer to Edd so he couldn't see her blushing cheeks.

Marie moved close enough to Edd that she could rest her head on his shoulder, and in doing so Edd moves his hand from holding hers to her waist just like his other one. They stop moving and just stand there in each other's arms swaying gently from side to side.

They stood there like that in silence for a good amount of time just enjoying being close to each other before Marie picks her head up from his shoulder. "That was real sweet of you Double Dee."

"Thank you for dancing with me Marie."

Marie and Edd look at each other with smiles of affection on their faces. 'Fuck it.' Marie thinks as she starts to lean into Edd deciding that she doesn't care what will come next.

Just as their lips were about to touch, the front door is thrown open by May carrying a bag of vegetable. "Am I interrupting something?" She asks watching Edd and Marie break apart from each other.

"No no no." Marie says shaking her head.

"Ok…" May says walking into the kitchen.

Seeing her sister reminded Marie of why she was dancing around the apartment, she was trying to psyche herself up for what she was going to tell her sister. "Hey May, you got a minute? I need to talk to you about something." She says walking into the kitchen.

"Sure what is up?" May asks as she dumps the bag of vegetables into a bowl.

Marie looks over at Edd, he is looking away from the sisters shaking his head slightly. "Hey Double Dee, mind giving us a minute? Sister to sister talk ya know." She says figuring it would be best if Edd wasn't in the apartment for what she is about to tell her sister.

"I understand, I will be outside for a little while." Edd says walking to the front door of the apartment.

Once Edd was out of the apartment May asks; "So what's up?" As she moves the bowl into the sink to start washing the vegetables in the sink.

Marie leans up against the fridge next to her sister. "Promise ya will not kill anyone?"

"Don't people normally ask someone to not get mad when they have bad news?" May asks as she turns on the water to start cleaning her vegetables.

"I expect you to get mad."

"What did you do?"

"Do you promise?"

"Yes I promise."

Marie takes a deep breath. "I'm pregnant." She says telling her sister one of the few secrets she has ever kept from her.

May stands there quietly cleaning her vegetables mulling this information over in her head. "I'm not mad at you Marie, but I thought as the smartest of three of us you would have been more careful."

"I know, one drunken mistake is all it took."

"Do you know who the dad is?"

"I figure you would have figured it out already."

"I did, but I want to hear you say his name."

"You're a bitch you know that?" Marie says with a smile, this is how the Kanker sisters show each other that they love one another, with aggressive name calling.

"And I love you too Marie, now are you going to tell me or not?"

"Yes, Double Dee is the father." Marie says giving May the answer she already knew.

"And?" May asks expecting there to be more for Marie to tell her.

"And that is what we met up to talk about when he got dumped."

"So what are you two going to do?" May asks looking over the carrot she was cleaning.

"We haven't really talked about it much, we're just talking it one day at a time."

"Hum." May says cleaning a spot on the carrot she missed.

"Well, thoughts?"

"I'm not babysitting, ever."

Edd said he was going to go outside, but he didn't go very far. He was standing against the wall next to the apartment door. He guessed that Marie was telling May about being pregnant and he is worried what May is going to do or say to him. 'Please don't kill me May.' He thinks as the door opens next to him. Edd takes it as a sign that it is ok for him to come back into the apartment.

Inside the apartment Edd hears the sound of the shower running and May is cutting vegetables.

"So…" May says not looking up from her work. "Marie told me."

Edd was expecting anger from May, and he would rather have May yelling at him then talking casually as she is. "I'm sorry that we didn't tell you sooner."

May turns around and crosses her arms while still holding her knife. "So what are you planning on doing now?" She asks giving him a blank look.

"I'm not fully sure, but I will be there for Marie, and the baby."

"Good." May says as a smile comes to her face. "But remember, you mess with one Kanker you mess with all of us." She says pointing at Edd with the knife. 

* * *

Days later in the evening Edd is sitting at the kitchen table working on homework. Nothing seemed to have changed now that May knows about Marie being pregnant, though Edd has caught May giving Marie and him a strange look every now and then.

"Fuck people." Marie says as she walks into the apartment.

"Is something the matter Marie?" Edd asks looking up from his work.

"It was a long day full of jerks and ass holes, and my feet are killing me. I think I need new shoes." Marie says dropping down onto the couch and kicking her shoes off.

Edd sets his pencil down and gets up from the table. "I might be able to help you with that." He says walking over to the couch.

"Oh? How would ya do that?" Marie asks as Edd sits down on the couch.

"A foot massage of cores. I've been told that I am rather good at it."

Marie loves the idea of Edd rubbing her feet and turns to rest her back on the arm of the couch and places her feet on Edd's lap. "Show me what you got." She says wiggling her tones.

Marie knows that Edd never brags about anything in his life, so she guessed that was he was telling the truth that he is good at it. But she didn't think that he would sell himself short. He was giving Marie the best foot massage she has ever had. She is leaning back on the arm rest with her eyes closed as she enjoyed the massage.

"Marie, may I ask you a question?" Edd asks breaking the silence that has fallen in the apartment.

"Shoot." She says not opening her eyes.

"Well I know we still have several months to go, but I feel like we should decide on what we are going to do once the baby is born."

"Oh… yeah we probably should figure out our plan." Marie says opening her eyes.

"So, what would you like to do Mare?" Edd asks looking at Marie, but not stopping the massage.

Marie hasn't really thought too much on this topic. "Well I want to keep it obviously."

Edd smiles. "Well that is good to hear."

"The foster system in this city is a layer of hell that I wouldn't wish on anyone." She says returning the smile.

"I could only imagine what it would be like."

"I'm also not going to fight ya for support or anything like that Double Dee, but I expect ya to help and be there for it."

"Of cores I will. I will do everything I can for you and the baby, but my funds are rather limited for the time being." Edd says as Marie moves to sit properly on the couch.

"Just knowing that you're going to be there for me is enough, but I have dibs on names by the way." Marie says getting comfortable in the couch cushions.

"Ok, but whose last name will it have? Will it be a Kanker or a Vincent?"

"Hum." Marie says thinking. "How about, if it's a girl she will have the last name of Kanker, and if it's a boy he can have yours?"

"Deal."

Marie puts her feet up on the coffee table in front of the couch. "If I smoked I think I would need one after that, thanks Double Dee." She says as she turns on the TV.

"Your quite welcome Marie, I hope your feet feel better."

"They feel amazing Double Dee."

Edd knows he should get back to working on his school work, but he likes just sitting there watching TV with Marie and chooses to leave his work for later.

Edd didn't notice right away, but Marie had fallen asleep while they watched TV. He finally did notice that she'd fallen asleep when she fell over and her head rested on his shoulder.

Edd looks at Marie and contemplates everything. He enjoys being around her, she is attractive and he guesses that she cares for him much like he care for her judging by the almost kiss they had. Not fighting his urges he puts his arm around Marie and rests his head against hers as he watches the program on the TV.

Edd ended up falling asleep himself as he sat there watching TV with his arm around Marie. As they slept on the couch May came into the apartment as sees Edd and Marie sleeping on the couch. Grinning May quietly walks over to the TV and turns it off and then throws Edd's blanket over them before heading into her room. 

* * *

Marie woke early the next morning, stretching her back she notices that there is something around her shoulders. Opening her eyes she sees that it's Edd's arm around her. 'I should just tell him I like him.' She thinks. 'This is not grade school anymore.'

Carefully she gets up off the couch as to not wake Edd and goes into her bedroom to start getting ready for the day.

"Tonight, well grown a damn pair and tell him tonight." Marie says as she gathers up some clean clothes to take into the bathroom for a shower.

After her shower she started making herself some breakfast.

 ***Beeep***

The microwave goes off notifying her that her oatmeal is done. Marie opens the door and takes out the hot bowl.

"Shit, hot hot hot." Marie says as she quickly carries the bowl over to the table. She sits down at the table and starts to stir the oatmeal around with a spoon as she takes a drink from her mug of coffee.

"Morning." She hears coming from the couch.

Marie looks up and sees Edd looking over the back of the couch with sleep still in his eyes.

"Morning." She says back.

"So… how'd you sleep?" Edd asks looking away from Marie. Edd wants to talk to Marie about them cuddling on the couch, but he is not sure how to bring it up.

"It was good, how bout-"

"Holy crap Marie! You got to see this!" May yells walking out of her bedroom looking at her phone.

"What did you do now?" Marie asks looking over at her sister.

"It's not what I did, it's what Lee did." May says sitting down at the table next to her sister.

"What, did she get arrested?"

"No, look." May says holding her phone out to Marie.

Marie takes the phone and looks at the screen. On the screen May has her Facebook page open and right in the center of the screen is a status update from their older sister: "That idiot of a boyfriend thinks he can make an honest woman out of me, let's see how well he can do." Lee wrote with a picture of a ring on her finger.

"Holly shit, David proposed to her?" Marie says looking up from the phone.

"So much for Kankers not believing in love." May says taking her phone back from her sister.

"That was always her thing, I am so going to give her shit for this."

"What? But I saw it first! I want to rub it in her face."

"But I'm the one that she always gave a hard time over-" Marie stopped, she realized that Edd was listing to the sisters argue and she didn't want him to know that Lee gave her a hard time cause she held onto her crush on Edd for as long as she did.

"I think it's nice to hear that Lee has found someone that makes her happy." Edd says adding to the conversation.

"Yeah, Lee deserves to have a happy life." Marie says agreeing with Edd.

"I'm still going to give her crap." May says as she starts to type out a response on Lee's status update.

Later that day Marie was on the ground floor of the building checking the mail. It's been two months since Edd started to live with her and her sister and besides a few letters from his mother, Edd hasn't gotten any mail. So she was a little surprised to see a letter from NYU addressed to him.

"Huh." She says looking at the letter from the housing office of the college. "It must be about a dorm opening up for him."

Looking at the letter she feels a sense of dread washing over her, she was finally ready to tell Edd that she likes him and wants to be with him and now the one thing that could take him away from her arrived in her mail box.

Marie contemplates ripping up the letter and never telling Edd about it. "No that's wrong. What if they send another letter, I can't keep this from him." She says putting the letter under the junk mail she also got in her mail box and start to walk back up to her apartment.

When she gets up to the apartment she drops the pile of mail, with the letter still on the bottom, on the table and goes into her room to try and find something to do with her time off from work.

Lately Marie has been finding reading to be more enjoyable, and she not sure if May did it as a joke or if she was trying to be helpful, but her sister gave Marie a few books on baby care and being a mother.

Some of the information in the books is obvious to Marie, but she was learning more the more she read the books.

"Parenting is not going to be easy." She says closing the book she was reading as she laid on her bed. "But at least I'll have Double Dee to help me."

Looking up at the ceiling Marie starts to think about what might come for her, the baby and Edd. She still has half a year before it's born, a feat she is not looking forward too, but Marie is already thinking of things the three of them could do. Like going on walks in Central park, showing off to everyone that she knows how cute she knows her baby is going to be and visiting her parents for holidays.

"We are going to be kick ass parents." She says she rolls over onto her side and closes her eyes.

As a thank you to Marie and May for letting him stay with them for as long as he has, Edd found Big Tony's pizzeria and picked up a large Trash Can pizza for the girls for dinner. Edd has also decided that it's time for him to be upfront with Marie about his feelings for her and tell her that he likes her.

When he gets back to the apartment he doesn't see Marie and assumes she went out. He sets the pizza box down on the kitchen and pulls out his cell phone.

"Marie, are you close to the apartment?" He texted to Marie with one hand as he clears off the table of the mail with the other.

He picks up a stack of junk mail and sees a letter with his name on it as he gets a response back from Marie.

"I'm home, was taking a nap. Why what's up?" Marie sends back to him.

Edd doesn't respond back, he'd set his phone down and picked up the letter. 'Why wouldn't Marie tell me about a letter concerning a dorm room had arrived.' He thinks as he opens the letter.

As he reads the letter Marie's door opens and she walks out with her hair matted from sleeping. "Oh hey Double Dee. Did you get my text?" She asks scratching her head trying to get her hair to fall back in place.

Edd quickly stuff the letter into his pocket. "I did, I just didn't get a chance to respond back, was cleaning off the table an all."

"Why are you cleaning off the table?"

Edd decides to let the letter wait till later. "I got you and May a pizza from Big Tony's as a thank you for letting me stay with you."

"Ooo, thank you Double Dee." Marie says as Edd moves the pizza box onto the table.

May came home shortly after Edd and Marie started eating, but May chose to take a few slices of pizza on a plate and go into her room.

"May sure has been acting rather strange as of late." Edd says as Marie stands up and takes their plates over to the sink.

"Eh, that sister of mine is an odd one." Marie says as she rinses off the plates.

"Hmm." Edd says as he touches the letter in his pocket.

"Something wrong Double Dee?" Marie asks. Edd seemed to be lost in his thoughts as they ate and Marie wondered what was wrong with him.

Edd looks over at Marie and decides it's time to ask about the letter. "Well Marie, I found this letter on the table, under a pile of junk mail." He says pulling the letter out of his pocket.

Marie looks at the letter and her eyes grown wide. "Oh, I forgot about that, sorry." She says coming up with a lie on the spot. Marie hadn't forgotten about the letter, it in fact has been on her mind all day.

Edd doesn't believe Marie, her wide eyes and pale face was an obvious sign of her lying. "Marie." He says getting up from the chair. "Why would you lie about this? You know that I have been waiting for a response about a dorm room."

Marie looks from Edd's face to the letter and back as she says; "I… um…" She then sighs and leans against the fridge.

She covers her face with her hands, this is not how she wanted this conversation to start. She wanted them to be both in a good mood. "I didn't want you to see it, cause I don't want you to leave." Marie starts to slide down the front of the fridge as she continues her confession. "I like you Double Dee. I like you a lot and having you back in my life has been the best thing to have ever happened and the thought of you moving out freaks me out."

Edd doesn't say anything right away, he walks over and kneels down next to her. "Marie." He says pulling her hands from her face.

Marie looks up at him with tears in her eyes to see Edd is smiling at her. "I too have grown quite fond of you too Marie, and a dorm won't keep me from being in your life." He says wiping a tear from her cheek.

"You mean?" She asks not fully believing what Edd is saying.

Edd chuckles. "I like you too Marie."

Marie could hardly believe what she is hearing. "Could we, I mean do you wanna give this, give us a try?" She asks looking up at him.

"I would very much like to try too Marie."

Marie quickly wraps her arms around Edd's neck and pulls him to her and kisses him.

Edd was surprised by Marie pulling him into a kiss, but he quickly forgot about it as he kneeled on the floor kissing Marie.

When sitting on the floor became too unconformable for Marie she breaks the kiss with Edd. "This has to be the strangest way for a relationship to start." She says as Edd helps her up from the floor.

"It's definitely a tail for the ages."

"Sorry I didn't tell you about the letter Double Dee."

"It's ok Marie, the letter was just to inform me that I will have to wait longer to get a dorm."

Marie looks at Edd. "Seriously?" She asks and Edd nods his head and Marie starts to laugh.

As Marie laughs May sticks her head out of her room. "Have you two finally admitted that you got the hots for each other?" She asks looking at Marie and Edd holding each other.

"Can it May." Marie says as Edd hugs her close to himself.

"What? I just want to know if you'll finally let Barry take me out."

"I am so not letting you date the bouncer at the bar." Marie says resting her head on Edd's shoulder.

"Would it hurt if she did?" Edd asks thinking that all three of the Kanker sisters deserve to have someone in their lives.

Marie pouts. "No, but can you blame an older sister for being protective of her little sister?" She asks as she starts to nuzzle Edd's neck.

"No, but you shouldn't stop your sister from being happy."

"Fine." Marie says wanting the conversation to end. "You can go on a date with Barry." She says to her sister before turning back to Edd and whispering; "Come to bed Double Dee."

Marie doesn't wait for Edd to give her a response, she takes his hand and leads him into her bedroom. 

* * *

Later into the night Edd and Marie are laying on Marie's bed, Edd is shirtless and Marie is resting her head in the crook of his arm running her fingers through the faint hair on his chest.

"Ya know what's funny?" Marie says looking up at Edd.

"What?" Edd asks as he runs his fingers through her hair.

"My step dad once said that the things we care for the most in life will find their way back to us in the end."

"Did you believe him?"

"At the time I did, it was one of the few things I could do to help me get over leaving Peach Creek."

"Did I really mean that much to you?" Edd asks as Marie moves closer to him.

"You still mean a lot to mean Double Dee." She says giving him a kiss.

"And you mean a lot to me too Marie." Edd says after the kiss.

"So, still have regrets about the last time we shared this bed?" Marie asks resting her head back on Edd's chest.

"No I don't" Edd says kissing the top of her head.

They laid in the bed together in silence for a while, and just as Edd was about to fall asleep Marie asks; "Hey Double Dee, did you have a dream for what ya wanted your adult life to be like when you were a kid?"

Edd opened his eyes. "I didn't. When I was growing up I focused on my studies so much that I didn't look to the future."

"Well I did, and it was all about you. I dreamt that you would eventually fall for my aggressively dominate ways and would take me away from the trailer park. That you that you would become a great scientist and win a big award which would lead to you making a lot of money and we would have this grand amazing life where I wouldn't have to do anything. It was such a selfish dream and I hate that I thought like that when I was a kid."

"You were just that Marie, a kid. And you clearly know that that is now how a healthy relationship works now."

"Yeah, turns out the trick to get ya to fall for me was to get pregnant and then spend two months to slowly get ya to fall for me." Marie says grinning.

"It didn't take two months Marie for me to fall for you. I was just unsure what I was feeling for a good amount of time."

"Ya need to start being more upfront with yourself Double Dee, we could have been enjoying each other's company on a more intimate level sooner had ya told me that ya liked me when you started to feel the feels for me." Marie says pulling her covers up to her neck and closing her eyes.

"Yes, but it was well worth the wait."

"I would have waited for a lifetime for you Double Dee." Marie says opening her eyes and looking up at Edd. 

* * *

The next morning Marie is sitting next to Edd on the couch watching him surf the net as they drink coffee.

"I just thought of something." Edd says as he types in a new URL in his web browser.

"Oh?" Marie says as Edd's Facebook page loads.

"Yes, I suggest you look at your own page on your phone." Edd says as he starts to change the settings of his page.

Marie picks her smart phone up off the coffee table and brings up her own Facebook page. Looking at her page she sees a message asking her to confirm the update that she is in a relationship with Edd. Marie smiles and kisses Edd on the cheek before she confirmed the update.

"That is really cute Double Dee." She says moving on the couch to lean against Edd.

"Wait for it." Edd says moving his arm around Marie.

Less than a minute after he updated his relationship status Edd gets several comments on his page. "That was faster than I thought it would be." He says as he opens the comments.

Marie looks at the screen and reads the comments.

There is one from Nazz that reads; "HA! I totally shipped you two back in the day."

Followed by Eddy posting; "What the heck man! A KANKER? That's betrayal man."

"Looks like Eddy isn't too happy with ya?" Marie says reading the comments.

Edd looks at Eddy's comment, it was the embodiment of Eddy's lack of growing up and refusal to let go of the past. "You know Marie, if Eddy cannot be happy and accept us, then fuck him."

"Eddward Vincent, did you just use a curse word?" Marie asks shocked that Edd just cursed.

Edd quickly skims over some of the other comments from his other friends from Peach Creek. "I did, and I do apologies for using a curse word, but I could not think of a better way to describe my frustration with him. I don't think he is ever going to grow up and forgive you and your sisters."

"How long did it take you to forgive me Double Dee?" Marie asks curious as to how long Edd was mad at her for how her and her sisters acted when they were kids.

Edd thinks about Marie's question, but it didn't take him long to come to an answer. "I think you had forgiveness from me when I found out that you really did move away from Peach Creek."

"Really, one kiss and the thought of never seeing me again was all you needed?"

"Everyone deserves a second chance, and being forgiven is part of that." Edd says closing his laptop.

"You are too good to me Double Dee." Marie says before kissing Edd on the cheek.

"Oh my god! Are you two going to be like this all the damn time?"

Edd and Marie look over the back of the couch to see May standing in the kitchen.

"What are you talking about May?" Marie asks unsure what her sister is complaining about.

"You two are acting all lovey dovey and I think I might hurle from it." May says answering Marie's question.

"I apologies May, I will try and keep the displays of affection to a minimal." Edd says setting his laptop down on the coffee table.

"You can try and be nice to my sister, but I'm not." Marie says before she pins Edd to the couch and starts to kiss him.

Marie's attack shocked Edd, but that was once again quickly replaced as Marie kisses him.

May is really happy for her sister, but like most people she couldn't help but mess with her sister when her guard is down.

May picks up the almost empty glass of water from the counter and walks over to the couch and dumps the water onto Marie and Edd.

The water freaked Marie and Edd out. "What the hell May?" Marie says jumping off of Edd.

"If you're going to act like cats in heat, then I'm going to treat you like cats in heat." May says as she walks over to the table and sets the glass down.

Just as May turns around to make fun of Marie and Edd again she is tackled by Marie. "You think were cats do ya?" Marie asks pining May's arm behind her back.

May tries to break Marie's grasp on her wrist, but she has no luck. "A cat would have known that she was meant to be at work five minutes ago." May says looking up at the microwave and seeing it is past the time Marie should be at the bar.

"What?" Marie says looking at the microwave. "Oh shit shit shit." She says as she jumps off her sister and runs for the door "Sorry Double Dee I'll see you later." Marie says as she opens and runs out it.

"I hope Marie won't be in trouble for being late." Edd says getting up off the couch.

May moves into a sitting position on the floor. "This is going to be the first time that she isn't early to work."

"She's never been late to work?" Edd asks offering a hand to May to help her up from the floor.

May takes his hand and pulls herself up. "Nope. Well there was this one time that that the lock to the stairwell fell off the door and we couldn't get out till the bar owner came and took the door off, but she was given a pass on that one." 

* * *

**AN: I hope everyone is happy with this chapter, I know I am.**


	6. Chapter 6

Now that Edd and Marie were finally a couple they didn't have to try and hold back their affection for each other. They would give each other kisses often, much to May's annoyance because one quick kiss tends to lead to making out. Marie also loves everything Edd would do for her, everything from him holding her as they fell asleep to just holding hands made her feel more full of life then she ever has. She has a boyfriend she is head over heels over and a job she loves, she couldn't think of anything more she could want.  
'My life is basically perfect.' Marie thinks one night as Edd holds her close as they fall asleep.

One of the first things Marie did for Edd was make room for him in her bedroom. Clearing out a drawer in her dresser for him and making some space in her closet. Edd had asked her if she was ok with sharing her room with him as they worked together to put his clothing away.  
"I already told ya Double Dee." Marie says as she takes a shirt off a hanger that she hasn't worn in years. "It's our room now."  
"I just feel like I am taking over a part of your life." Edd says taking the hanger from Marie to put one of his dress shirts on.  
"Well ya kinda are, but in a good way. We're together and happy right?" She asks tossing the shirt into a pile of old clothing.  
"I am happy that we are together." Edd says feeling his cheeks warm. The idea of being in a relationship with Marie is still fresh in his head, and every mention of it fills him with affection for her.  
"See were happy and together and… we are going to have a baby Double Dee, you know what that means right?" Marie says grabbing Edd's hands with her own.  
"That we have a lot of responsibilities coming our way?"  
"Well yeah, but we're starting a family Double Dee. What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine so long as the three of us are together."  
Edd hadn't thought of their situation as starting a family, but now that he is, he likes it. "You think we can do it? Be parents?" Edd asks as he sits down on the bed.  
Marie sits down next to him. "It's not going to be easy that I know for sure. But a genus like you and someone as resourceful as me, we have some really good odds."  
Edd found Marie's optimism to be one of the things he likes the most about her. He kisses the top of her head as he wraps his arm around her. "You're right, I believe we can do it together."  
Marie leans her head against Edd's shoulder. "That's the Double Dee I know." She says as she starts to nibble Edd's neck.  
In the few days that they have been a couple Edd has learned that Marie is a very passionate person. Edd closes his eyes as he starts to enjoy Marie's actions.  
Suddenly Marie pushed Edd down onto the bed and climb on top of him. "Hello." Edd says surprised by Marie's actions.  
Marie pins Edd's hands over his head. "Hey handsome." She says before she starts to kiss him.

"Those two are like damn rabbits." May says as she turns up the volume of the TV to drown out the sounds coming from her sister's bedroom.  
Her phone rings in her pocket. "Hey Bo, how's your day been?" the text message says.  
May smiles and sends back; "Good, though Marie and Edd are making it hard to watch TV."  
"They making a lot of noise?"  
"The sound of springs are filling the apartment."  
"Oh god, that is bad. You wanna come down and we can get some lunch?"  
"Yes please."  
"Cool, see you soon."  
May turns off the TV and gets up from the couch. "Well I guess Marie and Double Dee getting together will make it easier for me to keep Marie from knowing how long I've been dating Barry." She says walking away from the couch.

* * *

One negative thing that has come out of Edd and Marie's relationship is that Eddy has chosen to cut Edd out of his life completely, deleting him from Facebook and not responding to messages or answering phone calls.  
"Still no word from Eddy?" Marie asks as Edd takes his phone away from his ear.  
Edd had tried calling Eddy again in hopes of talking to his childhood friend."Regrettably." Edd says dropping his phone onto the mattress next to him.  
"Sorry about that Sweetie, do you wanna not watch a movie and just call it a night?" She asks sitting down the bed next to Edd with a bowl of popcorn.  
Edd picks up his laptop from the edge of the bed and moves it to the center so Marie and him could see the screen. "It's the week before finals week, I would much rather lay here watching a movie with you then sleep and worry about tests."  
"I'm sure you'll do fine Double Dee." Marie says as Edd opens his laptop.  
"Thank you Marie. I am looking forward to finally finishing my degree."  
"So is it just engineering in general, or did you have a more specific one in mind?" She asks moving to lie down next to Edd.  
"I never told you?" He says as the movie starts to play.  
"Nope."  
"Oh, well my major is in mechanical engineering."  
"I should have seen that coming, so what are we watching anyways?" Marie asks wondering what movie Edd has chosen for them to watch.  
"A classic eighties movie about a teenage boy who accidentally access a military computer that he thought was just a computer games company."  
"Oh War Games, I haven't seen this in years."  
"You've seen it really? It's not a movie I would have pegged you to be as fan of."  
"My step dad is a movie buff, he has probably a thousand movies in his collection."  
"Oh my, that is a lot."

Edd and Marie cuddle on Marie's bed at they watch the movie on Edd's laptop. Edd with his arm around Marie, and Marie is resting her head on Edd's shoulder.  
"I could totally see doing what David did." Marie says looking away from the movie and looking up at Edd.  
Edd looks down at her. "Hack into a government computer to play a game that could lead to a nuclear war?"  
"Ok, maybe not that part. But the researching and figuring out how TO get past the security."  
"And would that make you my Jennifer?"  
"Want me to teach you how to swim?"  
Edd laughs. "I already know how too, but I appreciate the offer."

* * *

Marie has never seen Edd stressed out like he was during the week of his final exams. He was up late going over his textbooks, and would be up early every day going over what he read the night before.  
But Marie would sit with him as he studied and read books of her own.  
"I blame you for getting me into reading more." She says as they sit on the couch reading.  
"What do you mean?" Edd asks looking up from his textbook.  
"I hardly ever read for fun before, and now look at me, reading and making myself smart."  
The last part of Marie's statement confused Edd. "What do you mean making yourself smart?" He asks closing his book.  
"Well I didn't get the best grades ya could in school, and I never went to college like you…" Marie says trailing off. Marie wants Edd to think that she is smart, but her lack of education would always mean that there would be a gap between their IQ's, more than Edd just being a genius that she thinks he is.  
"Just because you didn't go to college doesn't mean you're not smart Marie. I like you because of who you are, you don't have to be anything more then you."  
Marie hugs Edd. "Once again, you're too good to me Double Dee." She says before kissing him on the cheek.

* * *

"Well I'm officially done with my finals." Edd says walking into the apartment almost dragging his laptop bag.  
"So you're officially a college graduate?" May asks looking up from the cooking she was doing.  
"Well yes and no. I still have to wait for the results from my tests, and graduation it's self, but I feel good about the tests." Edd says sitting down at the table.  
"Lucky, I still have a couple of months before I can even think of taking any final tests." May says spooning out a piece of meat out of the frying pan she was cooking in. "Mind trying this?" she asks holding the wooden spoon out to Edd.  
"Sure." He says talking the spoon from May.  
Edd eats the peace of cooked meat, and he finds it to be very good. "That is quite tasty May." He says handing the spoon back to May.  
"Thanks, it wasn't too spicy was it?" She asks washing the spoon off in the sink.  
"Not really."  
"Needs more then." May says as she starts to shake spices into the pan.  
"Oh I just remembered something!" May says a light going off in her head. She turns around to Edd who has his laptop open and isn't paying attention to May. "So you probably don't know, but Marie's Birthday is coming up next week."  
"Seriously? She hasn't told me anything about her birthday coming." Edd says looking up from this computer.  
"She's never made a big deal of her birthday, middle child syndrome ya know."  
"I'll have to do something for her." Edd says closing his laptop as he start to think of what he could do for his girlfriend.  
"Well again she doesn't like making a big deal about it, but I can tell ya that she soft spot for giraffes and has never been to the zoo."  
"The zoo… thank you May, I know just what to do." Edd says coming up with a plan for Marie's birthday.

* * *

Say for a select few of them, Marie has never really cared about her birthdays. But with her having the day off and Edd no longer having any classes to attend she was looking forward to spending the day with him.  
"Morning Double Dee." She says rolling over and smiling at Edd.  
Edd smiles back. "Good morning Marie, and happy birthday."  
"Thanks." She says giving him a quick kiss.  
"So I hope you don't mind, but I came up with a plan for us for the day." Edd says as Marie moves to cuddle with him.  
"Oh? What ya got in mind?" Marie asks wrapping Edd's arms around herself.  
Edd grins."It's a surprise."  
"Ooo, a surprise birthday date huh? Sounds fun."  
"I think today will be."

* * *

As they rode the train Marie looks through the photos on her digital camera. Unfortunately she hasn't used her camera in a very long time and most of the pictures involved her ex boyfriend.  
"Fucking jackass dick bag." Marie says deleting most of the pictures from her camera.  
"Is everything ok Marie?" Edd asks as Marie shoves her camera into her back pocket.  
Marie looks up at Edd and her anger over her ex fades. "Just my stupid ex finding ways to still tick me off."  
"I'm sorry that your ex treated you poorly Marie." Edd says taking her hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.  
She squeezes his hand back. "Thank ya Double Dee, but I had to learn the hard way what a jerk he was." Marie is happy that she finally kicked Scott to the curb when she did. It was hard for her to do it, but he wasn't treating her with the respect she deserved and when he tried to throw Jim the cactus out the window at some cats one night was the last draw. That night ended with Scott having a black eye, and Marie and May sitting on the couch eating ice cream from the tub.

 _"Fucking fuck-wad." Marie says stabbing her ice cream with her spoon.  
_ _"You going to be ok Marie?" May asks more concerned with her sister then with eating the ice cream in front of her.  
_ _Marie eats a big piece of ice cream before answering her sister. "Fuck that prick, why did I keep him around for so long? He was a jackass jerk." Marie is a storm of emotions, she is mad at Scott, happy that she finally got rid of him and a little sad that she is going to be alone again.  
_ _"I would ask if you might have over reacted to him wanting to throw your plant out the window-"  
_ _"No one touches my cactus!" Marie snaps stabbing her ice cream again cutting May off.  
_ _"But." May says continuing her statement. "I never liked him and I know you can do better."  
_ _"In this pit of a city? Everyone seems to be a dick." Marie says before eating another big bite of ice cream.  
_ _"Don't give up Marie, you work in a bar, ya never know who's going to walk in."_

"Marie, were at out stop." Edd says waking Marie from her daydream.  
"Hmm?" She says shaking off her memory.  
"The train has reached our stop, we need to get off." Edd says leading Marie to the exit by their still joined hands.  
"Oh, ok."  
They walk out of the station and Marie sees that they are close to Central Park. "Why did we come to the park?" Marie asks as Edd and her star walking towards the park.  
"That is part of the surprise." Edd says with a sly grin.

Marie's excitement and joy grows as they walk through the park and when they reach the zoo she looks over to Edd. "The zoo?"  
"Yes, I thought you'd enjoy a trip here." Edd says as they start walking to the entrance of the zoo.  
"I've never been to the zoo ya know."  
"So I've been told."  
"You talked to May, didn't you?"  
"That I did, she also told me of a fondness you have for a certain long necked animal."  
"I should have know she would tell ya that." Marie says as they join the line to buy tickets.  
"Would you rather do something else?"  
"Na I've always wanted to come to the zoo." Marie says leaning her head against Edd's shoulder.

"So what would you like to see first? The giraffes?" Edd asks as looking at the map of the zoo that the ticket salesmen gave him.  
"Na, lets save the best for last."  
"Ok… then how about the-" Edd started to say but stopped when Marie ripped the map out of his hands.  
"No map Double Dee, let's just walk around with no plan, sept for seeing the giraffes, and just see whatever we see." Marie says balling the map up.  
"Ok then, which way should we go then birthday girl?"  
"Um... this way." Marie says grabbing Edd's hand a pulling him off in a random direction.

Marie and Edd walk around the zoo with no goal looking at the different animals in the zoo. Marie would take pictures of the ones she liked as Edd told her facts he knew about them.  
"Did you know that the average weight of a Rhinoceros is five thousand pounds and they have a body length of eleven to fifteen feet and stand almost seven feet tall?" Edd asks Marie as they lean on the railing at the Rhinoceros pen.  
"Damn, he is a big boy." Marie says taking a picture of the Rhinoceros with her camera.  
"I think he is a she." Edd says squinting at the Rhinoceros.  
"Oh, well then she is a very dainty lady." Marie says thinking the Rhinoceros wouldn't want to be called big.  
"She is quite beautiful isn't she?"  
Marie grins. "More than me?" She asks causing Edd's face to start to turn red.  
"Wh-hat I mean is that she is beautiful for a Rhinoceros. You are beautiful too Marie, just in a different way than a large African land mammal." Edd says feeling panic setting in.  
Marie kisses Edd on the cheek. "I know what you meant sweetie, I just wanted to see you panic." She says happy to hear Edd call her beautiful."Just like how I know you're handsomer than a lion."

"Come on Double Dee! They should be just around this corner." Marie says from several feet ahead of Edd as they made their way to the final animal pen for them to see.  
"You really do want to see the giraffes don't you?" Edd asks picking up speed so he could catch up to Marie.  
Marie grins. "You know it." She says before running around the corner to the giraffe pen.  
Edd laughs as he follows Marie around the corner to where the giraffes are.  
"Look at them Double Dee! Aren't they awesome!" Marie says leaning over the railing to get as close to the two giraffes in the pen as she could.  
"They are Marie." Edd says joining her at the pen's railing.  
"Did you know that they are the tallest land animals standing at almost twenty feet tall?" Marie asks stating a fact she knows about giraffes.  
Edd did of course know this about giraffes, but he didn't tell Marie this. "Fascinating." He says as Marie takes out her camera.  
"Giraffes are also loners by nature. They don't have strong social bonds, but they'll gather in loose groups if they happen to be moving in the same general direction." Marie says taking a picture as one of the giraffes as it eats some leaves from a tree."  
"You know your giraffe facts."  
"That I do. Did you also know that their hearts can weigh more than twenty five pounds and is almost two feet long AND it has to pump twice as fast as our hearts have too to get blood to its brain?"  
"So they are antisocial but have big hearts? I think I know why you like them so much?" Edd says piecing together the facts Marie just said about giraffes and things he remembers about Marie.  
"What do ya mean?" Marie asks looking away from the giraffes to look at Edd.  
"Well as I remember it, you were the most anti human interaction person in all of Peach Creek. Yet it turns out you have a big heart full of caring." Edd says putting his arm around Marie's waist.  
"Huh, I never thought of it like that. I just thought they looked cool when I was a kid. They all look the same, but each individual giraffe has a unique coat pattern." Marie says looking at the picture of the giraffe she took.  
"Kind of like how you were one of The Kanker Sisters, but you we're still Marie." Edd says adding to his belief that Marie saw herself in the giraffes.  
"Eh, they are still awesome, even if my subconscious was drawing me to them." She says as an idea comes to her.  
"Turn around." She says turning around herself to put her back to the giraffes.  
Edd follows her lead and turns to face away from the giraffes like Marie. "So what are we doing?" He asks as Marie leans against him.  
"This." She says before holding her camera up in front of them and snapping a picture of the two of them in front of the giraffes.  
"A selfy? Really?" Edd asks as Marie looks at the picture.  
Smiling she says; "Yep, that way I can have a reminder of this trip. But I think I need one more."  
Edd laughs. "Ok, one more shouldn't hurt."  
Marie holds her camera up again, but this time she turns his head and kisses him as the picture is taken. After the picture is taken Edd and Marie continue to keep kissing for several minutes.  
"Thank you for today Double Dee, best birthday I've ever had." Marie says when they finally break their kiss.  
Edd smiles at Marie. They haven't been dating for very long, but he is already starting to feel similar affection for her like he once had for Vicky. "You're welcome Marie, I'm glad you enjoyed it." He says as Marie stows her camera back into her pocket.  
"So we've seen most of the animals, what else did you have in mind for us to do?" Marie asks turning back around to look at the giraffes some more.  
"Well how does some ice cream sound? I saw a cart selling some when we came into the zoo."  
"Ice cream sounds good."

"Thank ya for the ice cream Double Dee." Marie says as Edd and her walk away from the cart where they got their ice cream. Edd got a cone of vanilla and Marie got chocolate one.  
"You're welcome Marie, should we just sit here eating our ice cream, or would you like to walk around some more?" Edd asks as Marie starts eating her ice cream.  
"Let's sit under the shade and just chill." Marie says pointing to a bench under a tree that was unoccupied.  
They walk over and sit down on the bench and eat their ice cream. Marie leans against Edd as she eats her ice cream. Leaning against him eating ice cream Marie feels like everything is going right for her for once. 'I wonder how Mom and Rod have been.' She thinks as she starts missing her parents.  
"Hey Double Dee." She says breaking the silence between them.  
"Yes Marie?" he answers back.  
"Would you be up for meeting my parents?"  
"Your mother and stepfather?"  
"Yeah, it's been awhile sense I've seen them and I figured if I go and see them I should see if you want to come with and meet them."  
"I don't see why I couldn't. In fact I would love to meet your mother and stepfather." Edd says accepting Marie's offer to meet her parents.  
Marie smiles. "Cool, I'm sure they will like you Double Dee."  
A second question comes to Maire, one that she feels dumb for not thinking of sooner. "Hey Double Dee, you're done with school right?"  
Edd stops eating his ice cream. "That is correct, though I have yet to get the results from my finals."  
"Which I'm sure you passed. But what about your graduation ceremony, when is that?"  
"Oh, uh… in a month I think?" He says not sure about the date.  
"How are you going to go if you don't know the date?"  
"I actually do not intend to go."  
"What? Why not?" Marie asks almost dropping her ice cream out of shock.  
"Well finishing school is important, but they way I see it it's only worth celebrating when I've gotten a job in the field I went to school."  
Edd's reasoning is very strange to Marie, but she understands it some what. "Ok, well I guess I can't make a big deal of it."  
"Once I get a job you can make as big of a deal that you want to, how does that sound?"  
"Deal, but I will go balls to the wall crazy just so you know."  
"I look forward to it."

As they were making their way out of the zoo they stop by the gift shop. Looking around the small shop Edd spots something he thinks Marie would like.  
"I'm done looking around, ya see anything good?" Marie asks Edd, who was obviously trying to look like he wasn't looking at anything.  
"I'm mostly done. But if you want to head out, I'll be there in just a minute." Edd says scratching the back of his neck.  
Marie could tell that Edd was trying to hide something. "M'kay, I'll wait outside for ya." She says before giving him a kiss on the cheek.  
Once Marie was out the door Edd quickly walks over to a shelf full of stuffed animals and picks one up and brings it over to the cashier.

'I wonder what he's getting.' Marie thinks leaning against a pillar near the door to the shop. She was keeping her back to the door to let whatever Edd's surprise is be just that.  
"Happy birthday Marie." Edd says holding a paper bag out to Marie.  
Marie turns around and smiles. "Thank ya Double Dee." She says taking the bag from him.  
"I hope you like it Marie." He says as she opens the bag.  
Inside the paper bag is a stuffed giraffe toy. "Aww it's cute, I love it Double Dee." Marie says taking the toy out of the bag. Holding the giraffe on one hand she wraps the other around Edd's neck and pulls him onto a kiss. "You know just how to make a birthday girl feel like the most special gal in The Big City." She says when they break the kiss.  
Edd moves a stand of Marie's hair behind her ear. "To me, you are the most special person in New York." He says causing her to blush slightly.  
Marie pulls him into another kiss. 'Ok brain, we can't ever let Double Dee go again.'

* * *

"You sure my tie is straight?" Edd asks as Marie, May and him get out of the cab the three took from the train station that is a few miles from the girl's parents home.  
"You look fine Double Dee, my folks will like you regardless of how you look." Marie says pulling Edd's hand away from his neck tie.  
In an attempt to show Marie's parents that he is an upstanding polite gentlemen he added a tie to his usual attire.  
Edd looks away from his tie to the house in front of the three of them. It is a two story building with white paneling and a two car garage attached to it. The door of the garage is open and inside is a black muscle car with its hood open as someone leans over the engine.  
May's face lights up at the sight of the person. "Daddy!" She yells as she runs at the garage.  
The person looks up from the car and Edd sees that it's a older man with blond hair just like May's dressed in pair of oil stained jeans and a black shirt.  
"May?" He says walking away from the car.  
"Hi Daddy." May says hugging her father.  
"Why didn't you call and tell us you were coming?" Rod asks hugging his daughter.  
"Cause I thought it would be better for it to be a surprise." Marie says approaching her sister and stepfather.  
"Well it's a nice one." Rod says looking over at his stepdaughter. He sees Edd holding Marie's hand and asks; "And who is this?"  
"Dad, this is Edd my boyfriend. Edd this is my dad Rod." Marie says using Edd's shortened name over his nickname wanting her stepfather to not think any less of Edd.  
Rod lets go of May and holds his hand out to Edd. "Hello Edd."  
Edd takes his hand with his own. "Hello Sir." He says as Rod squeezes his hand.  
"Is Mom home Dad?" Marie asks once Rod was done shaking Edd's hand.  
Rod turns to Marie. "She's inside getting some lunch together for us."

"Hey Tina, I have a surprise for you." Rod says leading the two girls and Edd into the house through the door from the garage into the house.  
"It better not be that that damn car of yours has another broken part." A woman's voice says from outside of the side room the four were in.  
"It's not about my car, but they did cost us a good amount of cash." Rod says as a smile grows on his face.  
A woman with curves and curly red hair, much like how Edd remembers Lee's hair was like, walks in the side room and sees Marie and May. "Oh girls! Why didn't you call?" She says walking over to her daughters.  
"Sorry Mom, Marie wanted it to be a surprise." May says as her and her sister are hugged by their mother is a bear style hug.  
"Or where just trying to avoid me talking to you about this." Tina says gently patting Marie's stomach.  
"Wh-hat are you talking about Mom?" Marie says as she starts to panic.  
Tina smiles. "I talked to Mrs. Stuvengoff last week. She told me about your little bun."  
Marie grabs Edd's hand and squeezes it. "Sorry I didn't tell ya sooner Mom… I, er WE just didn't know how to tell ya."  
"You know you can tell us anything Marie." Rod says as he looks at Edd with more detail now that he knows he is the father of his stepdaughters unborn child.  
"I know but-"  
"But it was a bit of a rough time for us. We chose to keep it quiet until we were more settled." Edd says interrupting Marie with a lie that as mostly correct as he squeezes her hand back giving her strength.  
"Yeah we needed to get our life together straightened out when we found out." Marie says happy that Edd found the right words to describe the odd start to their relationship.  
"I understand Marie. Now come on you two, you're going to have to help me with making some more food for lunch now that I need to feed five mouths instead of two." Tina says ushering May and Marie off towards the door way that she came out of.  
"I think Edd and I are going to head back out into the garage for a bit. I need a hand with a few things." Rod says putting his hand on Edd's shoulder.  
"Ok Honey, I'll come get you when we're done." Tina says as Rod directs Edd back to the door they came into the house from.  
"Please don't kill my boyfriend Dad, I really like this one." Marie says looking back at Edd who is looking at her with a little fear in his eyes.  
"I won't." Rod says as Edd and him leave the house.

Back in the garage Rod doesn't say anything, he just picks up the wrench he was using before and goes back to working on his car.  
Edd stands with his hands clasped behind his back watching Rod work worrying that he is going to rip into him about getting his step daughter pregnant.  
"You know, they are good kids." Rod says not looking up from his work.  
"I'm sorry?" Edd says unsure what Rod meant.  
"The girls, they are all good kids once you get to know them."  
"Oh, yes I do have to agree Sir, Marie and May have been very nice to me since meeting them again."  
"I guess I should also thank you."  
"I don't know what thanks I have earned Sir."  
"Well it is because of you that Marie and I were able to start getting to know each other when they moved here."  
"I'm still unclear as to what you are talking about Sir."  
Rod stands up and turns to face Edd while wiping his hands with a rag. "Marie was really upset over moving. At first I thought she was like her sister Lee and just didn't like it at all, but when I talked to her I found out that it was heartbreak that was getting to her. She told me about this boy named Double Dee that she thought she would never see again."  
"Oh… I understand now Sir." Finally getting what Rod was talking about.  
"When she told me about him I told her about her mother and I. Tina was a different person back then, she was too untrusting of me and she was always expecting me to hurt her. It got to the point that she had to push me away so I couldn't hurt her. I was hurt that Tina didn't want anything to do with me and wouldn't let me see May ever again, I guess when you've had two strikes you don't let the third happen. I tried to move on, but I still sent a check every month to help out, but she never cashed them."  
"I'm sorry to hear that Sir."  
"But then I had my accident. Was on my way home when a drunk driver hit me. The one thing I thought of as those lights came at me was Tina and making the mistake of letting her go. As I sat in the hospital I made a promise to find her and never let her go again."  
Edd was starting to feel less afraid of what might be said to him, but he still chose to remain silent.  
"So as soon as I could I tracked Tina down working at a diner in Peach Creek and begged her to talk to me. I told her what happened and showed her pictures of this house and told her about wanting to give her and her girls a better life. I think a part of her never gave up on use cause, well ten years later here we are." Rod says holding his hands up gesturing at the house.  
"If you don't mind me asking Sir, why did you do all this for Marie and her sisters? I can understand that May is your biological daughter and thus you have that connection to her." Edd asks his natural curiosity getting the better of him.  
Rod smiles. "It was for their mother, I love Tina and I still regret letting things fall apart when they did."  
"I do hate to say this Sir, but I am glad that you did. I got to meet Marie cause of it, and while it wasn't pleasant at first, she was well worth the uphill climb."  
"A Kanker is always worth the work Son."  
"I do have to agree with you on that Sir."  
"Call me Rod Edd."  
"Yes Sir, I mean Rod."  
"Now what do you know about carburetors?"  
"Well I understand the basic principles behind them and have fixed a few in my days, but I am unfamiliar with this make and model of car to say for certain."  
"Then roll up your sleeves and tuck in your tie and come give me a hand with this. If you're as smart as Marie said you were this shouldn't be too hard to get." Rod says turning back to the car.

As Edd and Rod talked in the garage May, Marie and Tina were in the kitchen talking as they worked to make more lunch for the three visitors to the house.  
"Edd seems like a very nice boy Marie, I'm happy to see that you have a good man in your life." Tina says as she cut up some lettuce leaves to make more salads.  
"Double Dee isn't just a good one Mom, he's a great one. He took me to the zoo for my birthday. It was such a simple thing, but he made it feel like I was queen of the world." Marie says bragging about her boyfriend to her mother.  
"It might sound great now Mom, but I've had to listen to her talking about Double Dee for months now. It gets old." May says looking up from the tuna sandwiches she is making.  
"Can it May." Marie says sticking her tongue out at her sister.  
Tina laughs at her daughter's bickering. "It's nice to hear that sisterly love in this house again."  
"I guess the house has been feeling a bit empty Mom?" May asks.  
"It does sometimes, but I know that it will be filled with the sound of grandchildren soon." Tina says already looking forward to having a little one to look after again. When her girls were toddlers themselves she enjoyed the amount of need the girls had for her, but as they grew the need quickly lessened leaving Tina longing for little ones to care for.  
Curious about her mother's choice of words Marie asks; "Why did ya plural that Mom? I only got the one and May here is still riding the SS Single ship."  
"There is you Marie obviously, but you two think Lee isn't going to be having one too? You've see how her and David are." Tina says admitting that she thinks a second grandchild will follow Marie's.  
May puts the top piece of bread on the sandwich she was making. "Ya know, I always assumed Lee would be alone for the rest of her life until she met David."  
"I always thought she's join the arm, and then stage a cod a week in." Marie says. When the sisters were younger Marie always thought her sister Lee was a little militaristic in how she ordered Marie and May around.  
"But David showed Lee that she didn't always have to be responsible for everything."  
"God she would tell that story of their first date to the carnival all the time."  
"And how she thought she was "too old for that stupid kiddy stuff"." May says adding air quotes to her quote from Lee.  
"But she let him take her on every ride there was and ate all kinds of fair food."  
"And he won her that stuffed bear."  
"Yeah after spending like forty dollars on tries." Marie says reminding her sister how much David spent trying to win Lee that stuffed bear.  
"Lee always acted tough, but David showed her that life can be fun when you don't try and control everything." Tina says adding to her daughters conversation.  
"I think she just needed some love in her life." May says with a smile as she thinks about Barry.

After eating lunch with her parents, sister and boyfriend Marie took Edd up into the attic of the house to go through the boxes of her stuff.  
"Gosh, I haven't seen some of these in a long time." Marie says as Edd and her sit in the dimly lit attic looking at framed pictures of Marie.  
The first picture was of Marie and her sisters around the age they were when they first moved to Peach Creek. Marie moves that picture to the back revealing a picture of the girls in front of the house. Marie was looking away from the camera. "Oh I remember this one, Mom took it the first day of school at our new school." Marie says remembering when the picture was taken.  
Edd looks at the picture of a younger Marie. She has a skull beret in her blue hair on the left side of her head, a black shirt with a white skull on it with its sleeves ripped off and a dirty green colored skirt. "You look very rebellious Marie."  
"That's what I was going for, Mom and Dad took us to the mall for new school clothes and I got the most rebellious looking stuff I could."  
"I have to say, you look rather stunning." Edd says commenting on how Marie looked.  
"So you think my teen punk rock self is cute?" Marie asks putting the picture to the side wanting to take it with her.  
Edd kisses her on the cheek. "Yes you were, and you are still cute today."  
"Heh, thanks Double Dee." Marie says looking at the next picture.  
The next picture was of the three sisters at their high school graduation. Marie had gone and ripped the sleeves off of her graduation gown.  
"Had to keep your look a little punk rock I take it?" Edd asks commenting on the lack of sleeves Marie had in the picture.  
"I did, Mom was mad that I did that to my gown."  
"Why is this one in your attic?" He asks unsure why such an important picture is stored away.  
"Cause this is like the third one of this shot alone, Mom took A LOT of pictures at graduation." Marie moves to the next picture.  
The last picture was of three little girls, about four years old, one with blond hair and the other two with red sitting on a rug in front of a couch.  
"Who are these three?" Edd asks not recognizing who the three young girls are.  
"Really? That's me and my sisters when we little."  
"I didn't know your hair is red."  
"Yeah, been dying it for so many years I forget that some people have never seen the real color."  
"So you are a redhead."  
"Yeap, a fiery one at that."

As the sisters and Edd are getting ready to leave, having spent several hours visiting, Tina came into the entranceway carrying a box.  
"I wanted to give you this before you went back to the city." Tina says holding a box out to her daughter.  
"What is it Mom?" Marie asks taking the box from her mother.  
"It's the few baby things I've kept over the years, there's not much but I still want you to have them."  
Marie looks down at the box. She knows that her mother looks back on the time when Marie and her sisters were small with great fondness. "Thanks Mom, we'll put it to good use I promise."She says holding the box tight.  
"I know you will." Tina says as she hugs Marie.  
She then turns to May and hugs her. "Remember May, you owe your father and me a full course home cooked meal when you finish school."  
"I know Mom." May says hugging her mother back.  
"Thank you for lunch." Edd says with a small bow to Tina and Rod.  
Tina surprises Edd by pulling him into a hug. "You're family now Edd, you're welcome here anytime."  
"Take care of our little girl." Rod says patting Edd on the shoulder.  
"I am so not a little girl anymore Dad." Marie says feeling a bit embarrassed by her parents.

When they get back to the apartment Edd goes into the restroom as Marie sat on the couch looking through the box of baby thing her mother gave her.  
May sits down next to Marie. "Today was fun."  
"Yeah it was, and Mom and Dad liking Double Dee is a weight off my chest." Marie says pulling a small baby shirt out of the box looking at it.  
"Oh please, like they wouldn't like him. Double Dee is everything you've ever wanted, and don't try denying that."  
Marie grins. "Who says I ever would?"  
"So what, you two going to follow Lee?" May asks with her own grin.  
"May!" Marie throws the shirt at her sister. "We are not going to rush into anything." She says as her sister laughs.  
Secretly Marie would love the idea of Edd proposing to her someday down the road, but she doesn't need a ring from Edd to know that he wants to stay with her.

* * *

 **AN: I feel like I should mention that there is only one MAYBE two more chapters coming, Also I hope this chapter is easier to read without the double spacing.**


	7. Chapter 7

Week's later Marie wakes up to the feeling of a chill running down her spine. "That is creepy." She says rubbing her arms with her hands trying to shake off the feeling of dread that has come over her.  
"Everything ok Marie?" Edd asks sitting up in the bed.  
"Yeah, I just had a chilling sense of dread, like something bad is coming."  
Edd leans over and kisses Marie on the cheek. "I'm sure nothing bad is going to happen." He says thinking over his plans for the day. He has an interview for a job with the public transportation office, and he is sure that he is going to land it.  
"Yeah, you're probably right, so when's the big interview?" Marie asks moving past the bad feeling she had.  
"Later this afternoon."  
"You're going to land it Double Dee, I'm sure of it."She says before kissing him. Marie knows how smart Edd is and has no doubts about his chances of getting the job.  
"Thank you Marie, I feel good about today."

Edd lets out a long sigh as he walks down the sidewalk. He'd thought the interview had gone perfect, he answered every question with the right answer, was polite and had his résumé in perfect order. But despite all his preparation and planning, he was "not what the Public Transportation Office was looking for".  
"I have this degree and won't be able to use it for what I want" He says pulling his tie off in frustration. 'I need to get a job. I have a child that is coming and I need to be able to provide for it. I can't rely on Mother and Father for ever.' He thinks kicking himself as he waits at a crosswalk.  
He'd chose to walk the whole way back to the apartment wanting some time to think and clear his mind. As he's walking he sees a "Help Wanted" sign in the window of a coffee shop.  
Edd stops and looks at the sign. 'It's not what I would like, but a job is a job at this point.' He thinks contemplating the idea of working at a coffee shop.  
Edd went into the shop to inquire about the job, the lady behind the counter told him that the owner of the shop isn't there but he could fill out an application and she'd leave it for the owner for when they come in. Edd filled out the application and thanked the lady before returning to his walk home. 'At least I tried.' He thinks feeling a little optimistic.

When he eventually gets back to the apartment he sees that the door is unlocked. "Strange, it is not like Marie or May to leave the door unlocked." He says opening the door.  
Once inside Edd sees that the lights are on and he looks up at the light confused, again leaving the lights on is something Marie nor May would do. As he looks at the light he sees something in the corner of his eye. He looks over at the kitchen and sees there is a woman in a red long sleeve shirt and blue jeans with red hair leaning against the counter flipping a kitchen knife in the air with one hand, the same knife May had pointed at him when she threatened him about Marie.  
"Um, who are you?" Edd asks very concerned who this person is.  
"Don't remember me?" The woman flipping the knife asks.  
The voice sounds familiar to Edd. "Lee?" He asks wondering if it is the sister to his girlfriend that is in the apartment.  
"Yes. So... you went and got Marie pregnant?" Lee says looking Edd right in the eye with eyes that were as sharp as the knife she was flipping.  
"I can assure you that it wasn't intentional Lee." Edd says not taking his eyes off the knife.  
Lee didn't believe Edd. "She finally got her life going after spending too much time obsessing over you." She says not taking her eyes off of Edd. Lee knew from the very beginning that it was Edd that Marie was upset over when they moved and that her cactus was his, it's why Lee tied to get rid of it so Marie would get over him. "And now here you are dragging her back.  
"I'm sorry Lee, but I'm not here to ruin her life." Edd says as the door opens.  
Marie had asked her boss if she could take an extended break so she could come back up to the apartment to see how Edd's interview went. She hadn't set up anything to make a "big deal" over it yet, but she was already making plans. But when she enters the apartment she sees her older sister flipping a knife and glaring at Edd."Why the heck are you threatening my boyfriend Lee?" She yells at her sister.  
"Cause you went and made that mistake." Lee said as she pointed at Marie's stomach with the knife.  
"It's not a mistake Lee. Yes our child was unintended, but calling it a mistake is something I will not tolerate." Edd says standing up to Lee.  
Lee is impressed by Edd standing up to her, when they were kids Edd was always quick to cower and run. "Alright then, I won't kill ya for this yet Double Dee. But if I find out you skipped out on Marie or hurt her, I will hunt you down." She says pointing the knife at Edd again before putting it down on the counter. Deep down Lee knows that Edd wouldn't do anything like that, but she still wanted the threat to be there, so her sister would know that she is still there for her.  
Lee then moves to walk to the door. "If he EVER does anything you don't like or runs, call me and I will be here to remind him what a Kanker is." She says to Marie.  
"While you may not trust me Lee, I will never do something like that. I will always be there for Marie and our child." Edd says once again standing up to Lee.  
Lee smiles. "Then prove me wrong. These are for you and May." She says holding up a pair of envelops to Marie.  
Marie takes the envelops and Lee finishes her walk to the door. "Date is in four months, you better be there." She says before walking out the door and closing it.  
Marie runs over to Edd once the door is closed. "You ok? She didn't hurt you did she?" She asks patting Edd's chest looking for stab wounds.  
"I'm fine Marie, but I think she did scare a few years off my life."  
Marie pulls him into a hug. "Good. So how did today go? Is my super smart boyfriend going to be working for the city?"  
Edd lets out a long sigh and hugs her back. "I won't be." He says, his ill mood from earlier in the day returning.  
Marie pulls away from Edd enough so she could look him in the face "What? Why?"  
"I was not what they were looking for apparently." Edd says looking away from Marie.  
Marie move's his head back to look him in the face. "I'm really sorry Double Dee. They are wrong for not wanting you, you're really smart and it's going to be their loss not having you."  
Marie's words of reassurance makes Edd feel a little better about not getting the job he wanted. "Thank you Marie, I don't know what I'm going to do now. I put everything into getting a job with the Public Transportation Office."  
"You'll find something Double Dee." Marie says with a caring smile.  
"I know, but I really want to be able to provide for our baby."  
"Hey, we'll be fine. You might have to get a job that sucks, but only till you find something better."  
"I did put in an application at a coffee shop a few blocks away."  
"See, you're already moving past the bull shit the city did."

Later that night Edd and Marie are laying in bed waiting for sleep to take them. As he looks at the wall, with his arms around Marie, he thinks over the day. He didn't get the job he wanted and worked for for the past several years. 'I don't know what to do now.' He thinks as Marie snuggles closer to him. Every night since they started their relationship Marie would almost always sleep facing him with her head against his chest. He looks down at Marie and an idea comes to him.  
"Marie, are you still awake?" He says hoping she hadn't fallen asleep.  
She opens her eyes and looks up at him. "Yeah, what's up?"  
"Well I was thinking about taking a trip back home." Edd says telling her of the idea he had.  
"Oh…" Marie says feeling sad that Edd would be away for a while.  
"And I was hoping you would like to come with me."  
"Oh." She says her sadness gone. "I guess I could ask for some time off work."  
"If it would be too much trouble we don't have to go."  
"No it's cool, but why do you wanna go back to Peach Creek?" Marie asks wanting to know Edd's reason for wanting to travel to Peach Creek.  
"I think I need to see some familiar faces and places after today."  
"I understand. I'll talk to my boss tomorrow and see when I can take a few days off."  
"Thank you Marie, I think just a day or two back home will be all I need."  
"Hey we're a team after all. If one of us is feeling down, were both going to feel down." Hearing Marie says this fills Ed's heart with a warm feeling he hasn't felt in a long time. 

* * *

"Holy balls is it cold!" Marie says pulling her dark gray zip up hoodie closed against the cold.  
"Don't remember how cold the Midwest can be?" Edd asks as they walk to a car rental shop outside of the airport in Lemon Brook, a larger city a few miles away from Peach Creek.  
"No I don't, plus I'm pregnant and all so that has to be affecting me too." She says wanting to escape the cold as soon as she could.  
"Well spring is colder here then back in New York." Edd says opening the door to the rental shop.  
"Don't care don't care, I just want to get inside." Marie says almost running into the shop.

As they drive down the streets of Peach Creek, Edd driving so Marie could enjoy the ride, Marie looks out the window at the passing scenery. "This all looks nothing like I remember it."  
Not taking his eyes off the road Edd says; "Well it has been over ten years, a lot has changed."  
"For the better or worse?" She asks looking the window to him.  
Edd pulls to a stop in front of the stop sign at the entrance to the cul-de-sack and looks over at her. "Something's were for the worse, but a few have been for the better." He says smiling at her.  
Marie understood that he was talking about her and returns the smile. "So why didn't your folks meet us at the airport?" She asks as they drive into the cul-de-sack.  
Edd pulls the rental car next to the driveway of his childhood house. "Mother and Father are still at work for…" He says looking at his phone to check the time. "About another half hour. So it should only be about forty minutes till they arrive."  
"Mind if I take a nap then? I feel a little jetlagged." Maire asks stretching her arms above her.  
"Go ahead." He says putting his phone back into his pocket.  
Marie leans over and kisses Edd before she grabs the seat handled and pulls it so the back of her seat falls backwards.  
Marie closes her eyes and was quickly asleep, and as she napped Edd watched her. 'She is a great girlfriend.' He thinks as she rolls onto her side and a lock of hair falls in front of her face.  
Edd leads over to move the hair back behind her ear, but once the hair was back in place Marie grabs his hand, laces their fingers together and pulls his hand to her chest.  
"I thought you were sleeping." He says quietly in case she is.  
"I am." She says not opening her eyes.  
"Really?"  
"Yep, this is all just me sleep acting." She says as a sly grin comes to her face.  
Edd laughs. "You're adorable Marie." He says as his heart fills with love for her.  
Edd didn't bother to try and pulls his hand away from Marie, it was a bit unconformable for him to sit like that, but it was a small price to pay to hold Marie's hand as she napped.  
Edd closes his eyes himself thinking it couldn't hurt to rest while they waited for his parents. But just as he starts to relax the sound of a car pulling into the driveway in front of them causes Marie and him to open their eyes.  
"That your parents?" Marie asks moving her chair back up.  
Edd looks at the car. "That is my Father's car, but my Mother was always the one to get home first."  
"Well it looks like there are two people in the car." Marie says squinting at the car.  
Edd unlocks the car doors so they could get out of the car. "Hum, maybe." He says opening the car door.  
As Edd and Marie are getting out of their rental car, Edd's parents were getting out of Edd's fathers car.  
"Hello Mother, hello Father." Edd says as he approaches his father's car.  
Edd's father, an older man with hair just like Edds in a dark blue suite, closes his door and looks over at his son. "Hello Eddward, we didn't expect you for another hour."  
"Our plan made good time." Edd says as Marie and him approach his mother and father.  
Edd's mother, a woman in a maroon suite, looks at Marie. "It's good to see you Eddward, and whom is this?"  
"Mother, Father, this is Marie my girlfriend." Edd says gesturing to Marie. "Marie these are my Parents, Pam and Jake."  
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Vincent, it's nice to meet you." Marie say being polite as she could to Edd's parents.  
"Hello Marie. It's nice to meet you." Pam says looking down at Marie's stomach. It was obvious to Pam that Marie is pregnant, Marie is starting to show that she is so it's not that big of a secret, and her eyes grew a little wide.  
Marie saw Pam looking at her stomach and decides to get it out now instead of later. "Yeah, got a little one on the way." She says patting her stomach.  
"Is it yours Eddward?" Jake asks looking from Marie to his son.  
This time it was Edd that grabbed Marie's hand for strength. "Yes it is Father." Edd says squeezing Marie's hand for confidence as well as out of fear at what may come from his parents.  
"An-and did you PLAN on having a child Son?" Pam asks seeing her son's future spiraling downward in her mind's eye.  
"We didn't, we just-"  
"Were in the moment, and ninety eight percent means that there is that two percent chance of a surprise." Marie says cutting Edd off. She guessed Edd didn't want to tell them the truth and doubted that his parents would want to hear it. "But Edd has been very supportive of my choice to keep it."  
"Well it's... reassuring to hear that you are wanting to do the right thing Eddward." Jake says also seeing nothing good for his son's future.  
"Thank you Mother, Thank you Father. I know this isn't how you would like to find out that you're going to be grandparents, but it is a relief to see that you not mad." Edd says as the weight that he'd been carrying around of how his parents would react to Marie being pregnant lifts off his chest.  
It hit Pam that she is going to be a grandmother several years before she ever thought she would and has to move one of her feet back to stop herself from falling from the shock. "We could never be mad at you Eddward, we've always known you couldn't do anything to upset us. But tell us how you met Eddward." Pam asks wanting to know more about the mother of her grandchild.  
"Well actually I originally knew Marie when we were younger."  
"Yeah me and my sisters lived here with our mom for a couple of years before we moved to New York with my step dad."  
"And did you play with Eddward and his friends?" Jake asks trying to remember Marie from the friends Edd had as a kid.  
"Us Kanker's were never really invited to play." Marie says bending the truth of how the other kids treated her and her sisters.  
"Kanker, is that your stepfather's name?" Jake asks.  
"Na, my dad let me and my sisters keep our mom's last name. He didn't want to change who we are ya know."  
Pam looks to Jake who is looking at her. They both remember hearing about the Kanker sisters and the hell they use to raze in Peach Creek and are shocked to see their son with a text book "Bad Girl". "Well its rather interesting to see that after all these years you found each other."  
"Yep, I guess it was fate" Marie says with a big grin as she looks at Edd.

After visiting with his parents for a little while longer, Edd found out that Jake surprised Pam by picking her up early from work and taking her out to an early dinner, Edd excused himself and Marie to go visit some of the other kids of the cul-de-sack before it got late.  
"So who's all left from back in the day?" Marie asks as Edd and her walk hand in hand down the sidewalk.  
"Well last I heard Jimmy and Sarah are still living with their parents, Rolf is taking care of his grandmother, and then there is Ed and Eddy also still living at home."  
"Do ya not want to see them?" Marie asks.  
"No, despite the way Eddy has acted he is still my friend."  
"Ok, I just don't want you doing something you don't wan-"  
"Double The Ed Boy! Is it you that Rolf sees?" Marie and Edd hear being yelled at them from across the cul-de-sack.  
Edd and Marie look to where the yelling came from and they see the dark haired foreigner Rolf waving at them as he walked across the street dressed in an old yellow shirt and work worn jeans.  
Edd and Marie walk into the road to met Rolf. "Hello Rolf, it is good to see you." Edd says holding his hand out to Rolf to shake.  
Rolf takes Edd hand and shakes it. "Ed Boy, you should have informed Rolf of your coming, I would have prepared The Fish of Returning in your honor."  
"There is no need to Rolf, how is your grandmother?" Edd asks as Rolf let go of his hand.  
At the mention of his grandmother Rolf frowns. "She has moved on to the halls of our ancestors last winter."  
Edd felt terrible for bringing up Rolfs grandmother. "I'm terribly sorry Rolf."  
"It is fine, Naa Naa went in peace. And it was nice to see The Old Country when I went to add her ashes to the family hill."  
"It sucks that you lost your gran." Marie says also feeling sorry for Rolf.  
Rolf looks at Marie with a puzzled look. "Rolf is not sure of who you are. Your voice sounds familiar, but Rolf is still unknowing."  
Marie couldn't help it as a slightly evil grin comes to her face. Being back in Peach Creek has reminded her of the chaos she and her sisters once spread throughout the town. "You saying that you don't remember a Kanker when ya see one?" She asks hoping that Rolf will over react.  
The color drains from Rolf's face slightly, but he doesn't react like Marie hoped. "Ah Marie yes? And with The Ed Boy? Something you are not telling me Ed Boy?" Rolf asks looking at Edd.  
Edd is amazed that Rolf isn't over reacting. "Yes Rolf, Marie and I are dating."  
"And you are with child yes? Greta was right."  
"Greta? Your friend from your homeland?" Edd asks remembering the name of Ed's once pen pal that turned out to be a friend of Rolf's from his homeland  
Rolf smiles."She is not just a friend Ed Boy, she and I are to be married soon."  
Edd and Marie's eyes grow wide. "You're getting married Rolf?" Edd asks shocked.  
"That is what I said Ed Boy. When I was back in The Old Country she was a source of kindness and after we, how do you say, hit it off? And she came back here with me."  
"Wow, well grats then Rolf, but how was your lady right?"  
"Oh, Greta is gifted with cheese reading. She saw the coming of an old friend with new life in an old fear in this morning's goat cheese." Rolf says explaining what he meant.  
Marie isn't sure if Rolf is telling the truth about Greta and "cheese reading". "Ok… well we were on our way to see Eddy… and we should be getting back to that." She says not wanting to talk to Rolf anymore. What little she did interact with Rolf back in the day was nothing compared to the conversation that is happening now and Marie doesn't want him to say anything more about her child and of reading the future in dairy products.  
"Ah yes, the short Ed Boy who works with everyone's filth." Rolf says looking in the direction of Eddy's house.  
"What do you mean Rolf?" Edd asks confused.  
"The short Ed Boy drives around in that green filth truck and empties those metal cans in front of the houses."  
"Oh, Eddy must be working for the sanitation department picking up the trash." Edd says finally understanding what Rolf meant.  
"Yes, it is good to see that he has gotten employment. Though he still tries to sell Rolf many pointless things."  
"Oh dear." Edd says. When Rolf said Eddy has a job Edd thought that Eddy had finally moved past running scams on people, but then Rolf said Eddy still tries to sell him pointless things and that brief moment of hope ended.  
"Yes well, you have a good visit yes? And you must come by on the morning, I will have a gift of fertility for you Ed Boy." Rolf says patting Edd on the back before he walked back to his house.  
Once Rolf was out of earshot Marie turns to Edd. "Could we not go get his gift tomorrow?" She asks a little worried as what Rolf's gift would be.  
Edd lets out a little laugh. "We don't have to, I'm sure it would be something quite strange anyway." He says pulling her into a hug.  
"Thank ya Double Dee." Marie says leaning up to give him a kiss.  
As they stood in the road of the cul-de-sack kissing, and not paying attention, an old beaten up truck comes speeding in and just barely misses them.  
"What the fuck!" Marie yells and Edd and her jump back. "You almost hit us you asshole!"  
The driver of the truck comes to a screeching halt and the driver door opens. The driver, a short man in dirty old jeans and equally dirty flannel shirt with all his hair shaved off and a five o'clock shadow that looks like it's three days old gets out. "What the hell is your problem?" The driver yells back.  
"You almost hit us Eddy, you know the speed limit of the cul-de-sack and you were clearly going well over it." Edd says scolding his friend.  
"Oh, it's you." Eddy says recognizing Edd. "What are you doing back in this shit dump?"  
"We came to see Double Dee's parents, if you weren't such a dick we would have told you that we were coming." Marie says really mad at Eddy for almost hitting them. Lately Marie has been more self aware of what she was doing to keep her and her baby as safe as she could, and a truck speeding past them put her in a bad mood.  
"Like I care what a traitor and a trailer bitch dose." Eddy says crossing his arms.  
Marie was about to rip into Eddy for calling her a trailer bitch, but Edd beat her to it. "Take it back Eddy." Edd says taking a step towards Eddy. "You can ignore me and shut me out of your life, but you will not speak ill of Marie."  
Eddy doesn't do as Edd asks. "Why should I take anything back? Her and her sisters are the biggest failures ever seem in this town." Eddy says pointing at Marie.  
This time it was Marie that snapped back. "We're failures? We all finished school with good grades. AND I have a great job ya trash man."  
"Ooo, so what? Should be an idiot like Double Dumb Ass here and go fall for that crazy bitch of a sister of yours?" Eddy says spitting onto the ground in front of him.  
"Ha! Like Lee would ever fall for a real failure like you. She's getting married to a guy that isn't a self center dick." Marie says laughing at Edd. "David cares a lot for Lee and he treats her how she deserves."  
"Psh, like I care." Eddy says still not caring about how Marie and her sisters lives have improved.  
"I have no idea how Double Dee turned out so great when he had a friend like you Eddy. You are a failure and you just drag people down with you."  
Marie's words struck Eddy deep. "The best day in the world was when you three left, everyone in this city cheered when we found out that you left." Eddy says taking one final jab and Marie hoping to win the argument.  
"Enough Eddy! I love Marie and if you can't accept that and move on from what happened over ten years ago, then maybe they can't be friends anymore." Edd says. He is done with Eddy and trying to mend their friendship. Edd takes Marie's hand and they walk away from Edd.  
"Like I would ever want to be a friend with a TRAITOR!" Eddy yells at them as they walk away.  
"You ok?" Marie asks as they walk concerned for Edd.  
"I will be, but I think I need to rest for a while if that is ok with you." Edd says holding back tears from having to end his friendship with Eddy. It was really hard for him to say it, but it had to be said.  
"Yeah that's ok with me Double Dee."

Later that night Edd and Marie are lying together in Edd's old bed in his former bedroom of his parents' house. He is still upset about ending his friendship with Eddy, but it had to be done if Eddy wasn't willing to accept him and Marie being together then he isn't someone Edd should have in his life. He also hadn't intended to say that he loves Marie, but as he thinks about the woman he is holding in his arms he knows that he does love her.  
Carefully Edd slides out from under Marie so he could leave the room to use the restroom. Quietly he walks out of the room and into the hall and crosses in front of his parent's door in his path to the restroom.  
"You really think they are going to keep it?" Edd hears his mother says through the door.  
Edd stops and listens to the conversation his parents are having. "I don't think the will. I think Eddward just had Marie say that they were keeping it to try and appease us, you know how much he values our option of him." Edd heard Jake say through the door.  
"I hope you are right, a child at his age could ruin his career path." Pam says.  
Edd couldn't believe his parent and what they were saying. 'So they don't approve of what Marie and I want to do.' He thinks as he uses the facilities in the restroom.

Once Edd was back in his old bedroom he looks at Marie sleeping in the bed. 'I don't care what people say, I want to be with Marie.' He thinks as he walks over to his desk. Edd is too awake to try and go back to sleep, so he chose to do the one thing that would always clear his mind. He pulls open the top draw of the desk and looks around in the back of it. Buried deep in the back is a small wooden box. Edd takes the box out and sets the box down on his desk and opens it, inside the box is a few things from Edd's childhood that he wanted to keep safe. He looks past the various nick nicks in the box and removes a key. When he picks the key up he sees a black cloth band. Looking at the familiar piece of cloth Edd smiles and takes it out too before putting the box away. The key is the key to the lock on the window of his room, and quietly he unlocks it and climbs out of the window onto the roof of the house.

The cold wind blowing into the room through the window wakes Marie up. "Double Dee?" She says wondering where he has gotten too. She looks at the open window and guessed that he went out the window. She gets out of the bed, pulls her sweater on and then sticks her head out the window. "Are ya out here Double Dee?" She asks looking around for her boyfriend.  
"Did I wake you up Marie?" Edd asks looking down at her from his spot on the roof.  
"The cold wind did." She says as she climbs out onto the roof.  
"I'm sorry about that, I just needed some air." He says offering a hand to Marie to help her out of the window.  
"It's ok Double Dee." Marie says as she sits down next to Edd. "So why did ya need some air? Still upset over Eddy?"  
"It's been this whole trip, it did not go as I thought it would have."  
"I'm sorry sweetie, you want to sit out here and look up at the stars? I haven't seen them in a long time." Living in New York City makes it almost impossible to see the starry sky.  
Edd smiles. "That is what I used to do when I came up here."

Edd and Marie sit on the roof of the house looking up at the stars. "You know, you are the first person I've ever brought up here." Edd says as Marie moves to lean against him.  
"It's nice up here, I can see why you like it up here." She says resting her head against Edd.  
"It was my quiet place. Whenever life was getting to me or I needed to clear my thoughts I would come up here at night." Edd sticks his hand into his pocket for warmth, the other is around Marie and despite the cold he doesn't want to move it. When his hand enters his pocket he felt the cloth band and pulls it out.  
"I think I should return this to you." He says holding the band out to Marie.  
"What is it?" Marie asks taking cloth band from Edd.  
"Well the day after you left Peach Creek Ed, Eddy and I went into the trailer park to see if it was true that you left and I found this, I recognized that it was yours and chose to keep it."  
"Wow, I remember this. I stole it from the mall when I lived here, I can't believe you kept this." She says looking the band over.  
"You needed a cactus to remember me by, a piece of cloth was all I needed."  
Marie puts the band onto her wrist and holds it out to him. "How do I look?"  
"As rebellious as when you were younger."  
"Heh, bad to the bone for life." She says with a smile. Thinking that Edd has had enough time to calm down so she can ask him a question she has wanted to ask since earlier in the day. "Hey Double Dee, did you mean it, what you said to Eddy about me?"  
Edd looks over at Marie. "That I love you?" he asks guessing her question.  
Marie couldn't help it as her cheeks turned slightly red. "Yeah."  
Double Dee smiles and kisses her on the cheek. "I thought it was obvious that I do."  
"I know, I just want to hear you say it."  
Edd chuckles. "I Eddward Vincent, love you Marie Kanker." He says saying what Marie wants to hear in the most official way he could.  
"I love ya too Eddward Vincent. God it sounds funny using your real name." Marie says before kissing him.  
As they sit on Edd's parents roof kissing Marie thinks back on the first time she kissed Edd late at night in his bedroom. 

* * *

_As Marie lands on the ground from climbing off the roof she half wishes Edd hadn't left his window open that night. Leaving might have been easier for her if she hadn't gone to see Edd.  
_ _'This was such a bad idea.' She thinks as she makes her way to the alley leading to the trailer park. 'We were doing so well keeping it together and now it's going to shit.' Marie whips the tears out of her eyes. "But hey, we got one more kiss in on him, and it was a good one." She says trying to lift her own spirits. "Who knows maybe he won't think I'm rotten and come looking for me."  
_ _Marie turns down the alley and into the darkness of the unlit path. "Oh who the hell am I kidding? Double Dee could never love me, I'm too much of a bully to him and his friends for that to ever happen. Still I got his cactus." She says looking at the small potted desert plant in her hands. "I think your name is Jim, well welcome to the life of a Kanker Jim." She says stopping at the fence separating the alley and the trailer park. "I promise I'll take good care of him Double Dee." She sets Jim down and starts pulling on one of the loose boards of the fence not wanting to try and jump it with Jim.  
_ _When she has one loose she picks Jim up and turns to look back down the alley at where Edd's house is. "I wish I could have been nicer to ya Dream Boat." She blinks away a tear before going through the fence.  
_

* * *

 __  
"I hope this night doesn't end like the last time we kissed at your folks place." Marie says happy that she did choose to go see Edd the night before her family left Peach Creek.  
"I don't think I'll be staying up for several hours trying to figure out what happened to me." Edd says telling her what he did after Marie visited him late that night over ten years ago.  
"Well that's good to hear."

* * *

Edd intended for Marie and him to spend some time with his parents and maybe visit with some of the other residents of the cul-de-sack. But after the interaction they had with Eddy and the conversation he heard his parents having he decided that both ideas were not a good idea. So instead Edd and Marie are driving around the town seeing the sights and reminiscing over the past.  
"I remember that gas station!" Marie says pointing at a building as they drove past it. "I stole all kinds of stuff from that place… which I know I shouldn't have done and was a bad thing to do."  
"Well it's good to hear you say that." Edd says with a smile. Despite how unenjoyable the majority of the events of the day before were, this day has been rather fun for Edd, just driving around with no goal.  
"Heh heh, can't be a really bad girl forever." She says leaning back in her seat. "So what time is our flight back to New York?"  
"Early tomorrow morning, so we should probably get to bed early tonight."  
"We should hit up someplace for some lunch." Marie says feeling a rumble in her stomach.  
"Getting hungry?" He asks pulling up to a red light.  
"Yeah."  
"Anything you are in the mood for?"  
"Hum… something from a ma and pa restaurant sounds good."  
"I know the perfect place." He says as the light turns green.

As they drive down the road to the restaurant Edd had in mind Marie sees an old, but failure sign. They are coming up on the Park and Flush and Marie feel nostalgic for her old stomping grounds.  
"Hey Double Dee, think we could stop by the trailer park?" She asks as the entrance to the park comes into view.  
Edd isn't too sure why Marie would want to visit the trailer park, but they don't have any real plans for the day so don't have a schedule to keep. "Sure we can." He says tuning into the trailer park.  
As they walk through the trailer park Edd looks around at the various trailers parked in the park. "I haven't been here in a very long time." He says as they approach a failure lot.  
Marie stops a few feet away from where her own trailer once sat and looks at the new trailer parked in the old sky blue trailers former place. "Ya know, I hated this place, but not that trailer. Yeah this is a shit dump of a place to live, but that trailer had some great memories in it. It's where we first met and where my sisters and me plotted out schemes against you and the other kids. For so long that was home." She says remembering all the times she had in Peach Creek.  
"What did your parents do with your old trailer? I don't recall seeing it at their home." Edd asks wondering what was done with the trailer.  
"Mom sold it and bought us three our first car, though Lee took it with her to Jersey when she bailed."  
"That must have been difficult, your mother selling your old home."  
"It was a little sad seeing my old home go." She says agreeing with Edd.  
He then takes her hand and laces their fingers together. "Remember Marie, home is where your heart truly lies."  
Marie squeezes his hand. "Then I guess MY home is right next to you."  
Edd smiles at Marie. "I love you Marie." He says as he starts to think about never wanting to not be with Marie.  
"I love ya too Double Dee." Marie says thinking the same as Edd. 

* * *

"I'll be right back Double Dee, I need to pee really really bad." Marie says as Edd and her exit the gate of their plane back to New York.  
"Why didn't you use the restroom on the plain?" He asks shouldering his backpack of clothing he brought with him.  
"Cause I don't trust them, I've heard of people getting stuck on them and I don't want that to happen." She says holding her own bag out to Edd, not wanting to take it into the restroom.  
Edd didn't have the heart to tell her that those stories she's heard are all fake. "Ok I'll wait for you Marie." He says tossing her backpack over his shoulder on top of his.  
Marie kissed Edd on the cheek before running off to the restroom. Edd smiles as he watches Marie run for the restroom as he leans against a pillar near the gate. 'This trip didn't achieve what I wanted, but it was still nice to see Peach Creek again.'  
"Edd?" Edd hears a familiar voice say and feels a sense of dread wash over him. Slowly he turns around and sees Vicky standing a few feet away with a suitcase in hand.  
"He-ello Vicky…" Edd says stuttering out of fear.  
"Hi… how have you been Edd?"She asks obviously trying to make small talk with Edd.  
"Good, and yourself?" He asks being polite.  
"I'm ok... it's nice to see you again."  
Edd doesn't feel the same. Not seeing Vicky made what happened easier for him to deal with. But now he's standing face to face with his ex girlfriend he cheated on with his now girlfriend and he feels the guilt of what he did come crashing down onto him. "It's nice to see you are doing well."  
"I-I want to apologize for how I acted, I shouldn't have yelled at you and hit you."  
"It's quite fine Vicky, saying I didn't deserve it wouldn't be wouldn't be true."  
"I… I, want you back Edd, throwing you out of my life was the worst thing I have ever done." Vicky drops her suitcase and runs to hug Edd, but Edd doesn't hug her back.  
"I'm sorry about how our relationship ended, but it is just that Vicky. Ended." He says pushing her off by the shoulders.  
"But I-"  
"Made your choices, just like we did, and you need to accept the fact that you and Double Dee are over." Marie says cutting Vicky off as she approached the two.  
Vicky looks at Marie and sees her stomach. Added with the fact that Marie was there, Vicky was able to put together that Edd and Marie are involved together more then she thought they would have been. She starts to cry and to her and Edd's surprise Marie pulls her into a hug.  
"I'm sorry Vicky, I really am." Marie says comforting Vicky. "Life can really suck sometimes, but we have to be strong and keep moving on with our lives."  
"I'm sorry…" Vicky says crying into Marie's shoulder. "But I can't help it, I still love him."  
"I know it hurts, trust me I know, but we can't live in the past. Our lives keep going, and we have to go with them."  
"But… I … gave him… my… heart." Vicky says between sobs.  
This outburst of love driven sadness stumped Marie, she was doing her best to comfort a person she should have every right to hate. But right now Marie couldn't bring herself to feel anything more then sadness for Vicky.  
"But you took it back Vicky. Even if I brought it upon myself, you still chose to push me away." Edd says almost at a lost for words at Marie showing compassion to Vicky.  
Vicky pulls away from Marie and looks from her to Edd. She wipes her eyes clean of the tears and then says; "I… good bye Edd." She hangs her head, walks over to her suitcase to pick it up and then walks away from them.  
"You ok Double Dee?" Marie asks as they watch Vicky walk away.  
"That was hard to do, but it's like you said, we made choices in our lives and for better or worse we have to live with them." He says pulling Marie's backpack off. "That was a rather nice thing for you to do for her."  
"I could tell she needed it, I have a knack for seeing a broken heart." She says throwing her bag on.

"Hey May, you home?" Marie yells as Edd and her enter the apartment. "May?"  
"I don't think she is home." Edd says closing the front door of the apartment.  
Marie looks at May's door and sees a piece of paper taped to her door. "What the heck is this?" she says dropping her bag and walking over to her sister's door. She takes the paper off and sees that it has; "For Marie and Double Dee" written on it.  
"Does she want us to go into her room?" Edd asks reading the few words over Marie's shoulder.  
"I guess." Marie says before opening the door. When she opens the door Edd and her see that everything of May's is gone from the room and all there is in the room is a crib.  
Marie looks at Edd with a puzzled look, and he returns the look. Together they approach the crib and see another piece of paper in the crib.  
Marie picks up the second piece of paper and sees that it's a hand written from her sister.

"Marie and Double Dee, it should be obvious that I've moved out, but I want you to know that it's not because of anything you two have done. I guess I should start by being upfront with you that I've been dating Barry sense shortly after Double Dee moved in. I could tell right away that you two would eventually end up together and I thought he would distract you enough that you wouldn't notice that me and Barry finally started dating officially. We'd gone on a few dates here and there since you and Scott broke up but I didn't want to make it worse on you, me having a BF and you not, so we didn't officialize anything. But now you and Double Dee are together, which makes me really happy for you two, you're starting a life together and soon a family. But this apartment, despite it being awesome, it's just not big enough for three adults and a baby. But as luck would have it Barry asked me to move in with him not too long ago. At first I was a unsure about it, we Kankers stick together, but Lee seems to be doing well on her own, so I think we will be fine being apart too. I love you Marie and I will miss all the crazy times we've had, but we can't be roommates forever.  
Oh and Double Dee, I heard what Lee told you, and I just want you to know that I kept the knife and I will fuck you up if you hurt my sister.  
Your best friend/ little sister May.  
P.S. I talked to Dad already, he's cool with helping you two out with rent till Double Dee finds a job."

"You ok Marie?" Edd asks once he was done reading May's letter.  
Marie reads the letter a second time. She is a little upset that May hid the fact that Barry and her have been dating, though it does explain why Barry has been in a good mood for months and why May hasn't been home as much. But she is more upset that May moved out. Marie never thought the day would come when her and May wouldn't be roommates, May is her best friend and they had a lot of fun living together for all these years.  
"When we decided to move out together I always thought we'd be together, when we were growing up we didn't have friends. It was always just us three, and Lee was more of a boss then a friend, so May was the closest I had to a friend." Marie says wiping a tear out of her eye. "Living together was some of the most fun I had. We yelled at each other, laughed together and followed no one's rules but our own. Which wasn't much past no walking around naked."  
"I'm sure you'll still see her Marie." Edd says putting his arm around her shoulders to comfort her.  
"I know I will. But it's not going to be every day, and that is going to be hard getting use to." Marie rolls to her side and wraps her arms around Edd.  
Edd wraps his other arm around Marie and hugs her tight. "I'm here for you Marie, we are together and I think we will have fun together."  
Marie lifts her head up from Edd's chest. "I know we will. Now I need to go make a phone call, a certain blonde headed chef is about to get an ear full for lying to me." 

* * *

Epilogue.

Edd did get the job at the coffee shop, and he was not a fan of it. He is a fan of coffee yes, but he was not a fan of how chaotic the job was. Every day was too different for Edd, there would be days where the shop didn't get much business, and then there would be days that the line at the counter never seemed to end. It also didn't help that shop didn't give him much on hours. But despite his dislike for the job Edd stuck with it because he needed a job to help Marie out with the expenses of the apartment and obtaining all the things a new baby would need.

A month and a half before Marie was due to have the baby Edd's mother called him and asked him when he would be coming back to Peach Creek now that he was done with school.  
"Do your folks not understand that ya want to stay in New York?" Marie asks as Edd sets a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches down on the table in front of her for dinner.  
Edd had already told her about the conversation he had with his mother, in which he didn't give his mother a definite answer. "I think Mother thinks we would move to Peach Creek."  
Marie rips one of her grilled cheese sandwiches apart. "Well I don't want to move." She says before taking a bite out of the sandwich. Frequently Marie has been craving cheese and every time Edd has made her a meal involving cheese.  
Edd sits down at the table across from Marie with his own plate of grilled cheese sandwiches."I know, and I don't either. I like it here in the city."  
"So what are ya going to do?" She asks wondering what Edd wants to do.  
"I think, I should talk to them in person about this."  
"Like flying back to Peach Creek talk to them?"  
"Yes. It would give me the opportunity to fully move my belongings out of their house while I talked with them."  
Marie sighs and frowns. She knows she shouldn't fly this close to her due date and she doesn't want to be without Edd.  
Over the past few months Edd had become quite adapted at reading Marie. "It would only be for a few days. And before you ask, I'm sure I can get Mother and Father to pay for the ticket." He says reassuring her and answering her question before she could even ask it.  
"Humph, you better come back." She says knowing full well that he wouldn't abandon her, she just wanted to tease him.  
Edd knew that she was joking, but her comment made him think. He's already knows he doesn't want to not be with Marie, but he's never thought more on what his future with her would lead too. "I promise to you Marie." He says picking the right words. "I will always come back to you."

This time Edd flew back to Peach Creek on a Saturday so his father was able to pick him up from the airport, rather than renting a car.  
"Thank you for picking me up Father." Edd says as he enters his father's car.  
Jake smiles, he's missed his son over his years at New York University and he enjoys the times that Edd has come to visit or the summer vacations from college. "No problem Son, your mother is quite happy that you've come home again so soon. She's making your favorite dish for dinner she's that happy you are home."  
"Macaroni casserole?" Edd asks naming the dish his parents would make for him when an attempt at bribery is planned for Edd.  
"What else would it be Son?"  
At the thought of having a cheese themed meal Edd lets out a quiet sigh of sadness. He takes out his phone from his pocket and unlocks the screen. On his phone is the text message conversation he had with Marie after his plane landed.  
She made him promise to text her when he landed, she was going to be at work so a phone call wouldn't be doable, and he did just that.  
"My plane has landed Marie." He'd sent to her when he got off the plane.  
Just a few seconds later he got a response back. "Good to hear, now maybe my stomach will calm down."  
"Feeling ill?"  
"No, I was just really worried about you."  
"Afraid my plane wouldn't make it?"  
"Maybe…"  
Edd had laughed at her response. "Don't worry Marie, I wouldn't let the plane crash."  
"How would you have done that?"  
Edd grinned as he typed out his response. "With the power of love."  
He didn't get a response back from Marie for over a minute and had started to worry as he waited for his father.  
When he finally did get a response back he again laughed. "That was so cheesy that dropped the drink I was shaking."  
"I'm sorry I made you mess up at work Marie."  
"It's cool, I just told the dude that I felt the baby kick (which it totally did when you told me you were turning off your phone earlier) and he believed me. Though I think my boss is going to send me on prego leave at the end of next week cause he "doesn't want me slipping up anymore" at the bar."  
"I'm sorry you're going to have to take time off sooner then you wanted too."  
"Eh, I'll be ok once I have my Love Muffin back." Love Muffin is the pet name Marie came up with for Edd one night when he came home from the coffee shop he works at with some uneaten muffins.  
Edd smiled and responded back to her; "I love you Marie, and your Love Muffin will return to you soon."  
"Love ya too DD." DD is Marie's personal way to type out his name in a text message.  
Edd sighs again as he looks at the last message Marie sent him, it's only been a few hours but he already misses his girlfriend. He exits out of his text messages to the home screen of his phone and his heart pings with sadness of not being with Marie again. He'd changed the background on his phone to the picture Marie took of them kissing in front of the giraffe's at the zoo.  
Jake looks down at his son's phone and sees the image of Edd and Marie. Seeing the photo of Edd and Marie reminded Jake of how Pam and him where when they were in their twenties. "Miss you're gal?" He asks as they drive down the highway out of Lemon Brook.  
Edd puts his phone away. "I miss both of them Father."  
"Both of them?"  
"Marie and our unborn baby." Edd says smiling at the mention of his unborn child.  
"Oh… It's nice to see that you care about the child." Jake says a little worried that his son is investing too much into the child that hasn't been born.  
"I don't just care Father, I know without a doubt that I love my child and Marie."  
Jake just barely kept himself from swerving the car. "That is a rather bold statement Eddward."  
"It is bold, but it is true Father."  
Jake didn't know what to say. Before Edd was born Jake too loved his child before being born, but Pam and him were together for a couple of years before she became pregnant. "I hate to say it Son, but I believe that you're rushing into this commitment."  
His father's words cut Edd deep, but he knew it wasn't going to be an easy weekend with his parents. "I resentfully disagree Father. It was a series of unfortunate events that have lead to my current situation, but I am rather happy about what has happened."  
"But what about wanting to get a job with NASA?" Jake asks bringing up the one think his is sure will make his sin reconsider his choices.  
"I guess I should be honest with you about that Father."

For the rest of the car ride back into Peach Creek and into the cul-de-sack Edd explained everything to his father. Edd told him of changing from wanting to work at NASA to wanting to work in public transportation in New York, and of not getting the job and found a coffee shop to work at. But he also told his father about how Marie kept his spirits up when he didn't get the job he wanted and was supporting and reassuring him every time he felt down.  
Jake wasn't too convinced for most of Edd's story until he said; "Marie is like a great fire of life, she is spontaneous to the point of being unpredictable. But she is a warm, caring and accepting person, and I am sure my life would have very little joy in it if I hadn't met her again."  
"You… you really do love her, don't you?" Jake asks thinking that maybe him and his wife were wrong about Marie.  
"With everything I have Father."

There was still some time before dinner was ready when Jake and Edd arrived in the cul-de-sack, so after greeting his mother Edd went into his room to start packing things up to give away or ship back home to New York.  
"So, did you talk to Eddward about the choices he is making?" Pam asked after kissing her husband when he entered the kitchen.  
"I did." Jake answers.  
"And?" She asks wanting to know if Jake had swayed Edd.  
Jake sits down at the round table in the kitchen. "And I agree that this isn't the most fruitful choice for him to make, I think it's what is going to make him happy."  
Pam sits down next to him. "But he could be throwing away his future and talent."  
Jake places his hand on top of Pam's. "We can't dictate his life anymore, he might be missing out on opportunities, but those choices are for him to make."  
Jake and Pam talked more and they came to an agreement that Edd is old enough to make his own choices in his life and if they kept trying to control him he could end up cutting them out of his life and they didn't want that. 

* * *

Edd never went to talk to Eddy while he was in Peach Creek. He knows he should try and mend his friendship with Eddy, but Eddy's dislike for Marie was more than Edd was willing to try and change.  
Edd also informed his parents that they don't need to send him an allowance every month anymore. He told them that he wants to take care of himself on his own, which showed his parents that he is grown up. Most of the contents of his bedroom Edd gave away to various charitable organizations, but he did keep his books, some clothing, his box of keepsakes and a few other things of importance.  
But throughout his stay with his parents, Edd missed Marie. He was sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner on the night before flying back to New York. He had talked to Marie earlier that night on the phone, both of them are looking forward to Edd's return, but he still missed her deeply.  
"You ok Son? You've hardly touched your food." Pam asks watching her son poke at his food with his fork.  
"I am fine Mother, I'm just missing Marie." Edd says with a sigh.  
"Oh, I'm sorry you miss her."  
Edd looks up from his plate of food and turns to his mother. "I know it's rather silly to be missing someone I'll be seeing tomorrow."  
"It's not silly Eddward, it's love." She says patting his arm. Pam still believes that Edd is making a mistake in choosing to not pursue a carrier where his genius would be used to its full potential, but she agreed to let him choose his own path in life. Though watching her son over the past few days has shown her just how devoted he is to Marie. He never acted like this when he was away from Vicky, what she saw was till death do us part level of devotion to the once terrorizer of the neighborhood, and that made her happy for her son.  
Edd couldn't believe that he is feeling embarrassed by what his mother said. "Mother I… um, thank you?" he says unsure what to say.

The next day as they were seeing Edd off Pam kisses Jake on the cheek. "I think you are right about our boy, this girl might be what he needs." 

* * *

Edd knew the coffee shop job wouldn't be enough once the baby was born and he was always on the lookout for a better job. And as he was filling out paperwork to check Marie into the hospital he got a call that, had he never ran into Marie again, should have been the best call in his life.  
"Eddward, I'm glad I was able to get a hold of you." The voice on the other end of the phone line says.  
"Professor Walrts?" Edd asks guessing who was on the phone.  
"Yes, how have you been the past couple of months?"  
Edd looks down at the paper work he is working on. "Been a bit of a roller coaster the past few hours, but all in all pretty good."  
"Great! Listen the reason I called is that I have a friend who happens works at Kennedy Space Center, and he is looking for a new assistant."  
Edd couldn't believe what he heard. "An-and you have called me and told me this because?" He asks needing to know the truth.  
"Well obviously I said you were my best student and would be perfect for the job." Edd almost drops his phone. "You wouldn't get to do much real work for a while, but it's a foot in the door."  
"I… I don't know what to say sir." Edd says almost dropping his pen.  
"Just say you'll love the job, you deserve it Eddward."  
Edd looks down at his paperwork and sees Marie and his name written by his own hand. This is a job Edd is sure he would enjoy every day, but he couldn't ask Marie to uproot her life and give up her dream job and move to Florida. "I appreciate the offer, but I have a family starting and I could never ask that of Marie."

Marie's delivery went through without any complications, though Edd is sure that she cracked one of the bones in his hand. Marie gave birth to a healthily little girl with red hair, just like her mothers, and sharp green eyes full of knowledge, like Edd's.  
"So what name do you want to give her?" Edd asks sitting on the side of Marie's bed as she held their daughter.  
"It's a tradition in the Kanker line to name the first born after your grandparents, so her name is Cindy."  
"After your grandmother?" Edd asks guessing who the name belonged to.  
Marie smiles. "Yep."  
"Did you know your grandmother?"  
"I didn't, but the tradition must live on." Marie says, her smile growing.  
"What would happen if Lee or even May has a girl of their own?" Edd asks curious about how the tradition's rules work.  
"Um, well I guess they can name them after our grandpa." Marie says laughing at the idea of her sisters naming their kids after their mother's father.  
Edd laughs with Marie and then kisses her on the forehead. He then genially touches Cindy's cheek with the back of his finger. "She is the most adorable child I have ever seen."  
"Yeah, we made a very cute baby." Marie says looking at the baby in her arms.  
"Do you still wanting to give her your last name?"  
"Yeah, it's the deal we made Double Dee."  
"Just wanted to make sure."  
"Hey Marie, you in here?" A failure voice says loudly from the doorway into the hospital room.  
"Lee, please keep your voice down, Cindy is asleep." Edd say as he gets up from the bed to intercept Lee.  
"I'm not here to see a screaming kid, I'm here to see the newest Kanker." Lee says lowering her voice like Edd had asked for.  
Edd stands aside and watches Lee walk over and sit down next to Marie. "How ya doing?" She asks Marie.  
"Tired and in a little pain, but she's healthy and that's what is the most important." Marie said closing her eyes as she starts to feel sleep coming.  
Lee looks at her niece. "Ya did good sis."  
Marie smiles. "Thanks. Double Dee could ya put Cindy in her bed? I think it's time for a nap."  
"Of cores." Edd walks over and carefully takes his daughter from Marie. As he holds Cindy and walks over to the infant crib next to Marie's bed he feels' his heart swell with love for his daughter. Edd lays Cindy down and covers her with her blanket. "Ok Lee, I think it's time we let Marie get some rest." He says turning to the sisters.  
"Alright, give me a call if ya need anything Marie." Lee says standing up from the bed.  
"K." Marie says as she gives her a thumbs up.  
"I'll come by later with some clean clothes and some stuff to keep yourself entertained."  
"Ok Double Dee."  
Edd kisses Marie on the forehead and says; "Love you." Before Lee and him left the room.  
Marie didn't respond back to Edd, on the count that she was asleep by the time he kissed her, but he knew she loved him just as much as he loved her.  
"Ya did good too Double Dee." Lee says smacking Edd on the back. "But don't think I still won't kill ya if you fuck up."She says glaring at him.  
"Trust me Lee, I will do everything I can to be the best father Cindy deserves." Edd says hiding the pain from Lee's back slap.  
"You better be the best for both of them." Lee says before turning and walking away from Edd. 

* * *

Edd left the coffee shop shortly after Cindy was born and started working at a pizzeria, he was able to make more money and had better hours then what he was getting at the coffee shop. He enjoyed this job more then the coffee shop, but he always kept his eyes out for something better or places that he could use his degree.  
Marie was given plenty of time off from work to take care of Cindy and to recover, but she missed her job and wanted to get back to work. Initially they were not sure what to do the few times neither of them had time off from work to watch their little girl, Marie's mother lived too far away and May was working more then the both of.  
Luck happened to be on their side on this as they were at the store shopping. Once again they ran into Mrs. Stuvengoff as they walked around the store. Mrs. Stuvengoff agreed with Marie that Cindy is a beautiful baby girl. They talked some more as Marie held Cindy in her arms, they talked about May moving out, Lee getting engaged and of how they are not sure what to do once Marie starts working again. Mrs. Stuvengoff then told Marie and Edd that she could help watch Cindy when Marie or Edd couldn't. At first Marie turned her offer down, she didn't want to make Mrs. Stuvengoff travel into the city on their account, but she then told them that she is living with her son. He, "is far too much of a lazy boy, he needs his mother around still" and she had been keeping him from slacking off all the time.  
"Well guess it couldn't hurt if you wanted to help when we both have to work."Marie says finally accepting Mrs. Stuvengoff's offer to watch Cindy.  
Mrs. Stuvengoff's turned out to be a very good babysitter for Cindy, and every time Marie or Edd tried to pay her for sitting she would turn them down saying she couldn't accept it and they could put it away for Cindy's future. 

* * *

Shortly after Cindy's second birthday a former classmate of Edd's got him a job working at an office building as an office assistant. Again it wasn't what he wanted to do, but it was the best for his family and that's what is important for Edd. He worked at the office building for almost two years getting coffee, making copies and answering phones. Quite a few times he would fix a problem one of the other workers of the office was having with their computers. After helping someone with their computer problem Edd's boss offered him a job on the IT team of the building. It wasn't the best use for his degree in engineering, but he is able to use some of his skills he learned and got him benefits that help with razing his daughter. Plus he really enjoyed it, so that was a plus to the job. 

* * *

As Cindy grew Edd and Marie saw how much she inherited from her parents. She's mischievous like Marie was as a child, but also clever and good at figuring problems out like Edd. Which lead to her getting into all kinds of trouble. Doors were the first thing she figured out how to get past and eventually Edd and Marie stopped locking the bedroom doors of the apartment.

After the five year anniversary of their relationship Edd was started to think that it was time to make it official that he wants to be with Marie for as long as she wants him to be in her life, which is obvious that she wants him around for the rest of her days. So after talking to his mother and making secret plans with Cindy, Edd was set to make the following Christmas one that he is sure Marie would never forget.

Edd, Marie and Cindy were invited to stay the night at Marie's parents house for Christmas eve along with Lee, David and their little girl Harley, they named her after David's grandmother because Marie "Jacked the name that should have been mine to give". 

* * *

"Ok Mr. Geffy we need to be quite." A little redheaded girl says quietly opening a door with one hand and clutching a worn out stuffed giraffe toy in the other. Slowly she walks across the room to a bed where two people are sleeping. With the skill of having done it many times in the past she climbs up onto the edge of the bed and takes aim at the small space between the two adults sleeping. Once she has her trajectory planned she takes a deep breath. "Mommy Mommy! Daddy Daddy!" She yells jumping and landing in the space she aimed for.  
Her yelling and jumping into the bed woke both of the sleeping adults. "Good morning to you too Cindy." Marie says rubbing her eyes. Marie's daughter does this wake up so much that Marie and Edd are no longer surprised by it.  
"Morning Mommy! Morning Daddy!" Cindy says as she crawls over to sit on her father. "Wakey wakey Daddy, Grammy is making breakfast."  
Edd was already awake, but he knew faking being asleep would be best way to trick his daughter. Quickly he opens his eyes. "I am awake, but I am not your father, I am the tickle monster." He says as he starts to tickle Sidney.  
Cindy immediately starts to giggle and thrash around as Edd tickles her. Marie watches Edd and Cindy play with a smile, but that fades when she notices something off about her daughter's hair.  
"Cindy, what is that in your hair?" Marie asks making Edd stop tickling Cindy.  
Edd also see what Marie is talking about, there is streaks of blue in her red hair.  
"Aunt Lee did it last night, she said you would like it." Cindy says with a big happy grin.  
Edd sits up and looks more carefully at Cindy's hair. "I guess this is what we get when we choose to go to bed early."  
"She also said this would make you proud." Cindy lifts the sleeve of her night shirt showing her parents that she has "Kanker Life" on her arm.  
"Seriously? I'm going to kill her." Marie says thinking that her sister tattooed her daughter. But Marie's mind wasn't fully awake yet and she didn't see that it was written with marker and not a tattoo.  
"I think it's washable marker Marie." Edd says rubbing the writing with his thumb.  
Marie rubs her eyes again and then sees that Edd is correct. She then sighs. "God, how the heck did Mom handle three Kankers, when I can barely handle half of one sometimes." She says falling back onto the bed.  
Edd looks over at Marie and then whispers to Cindy; "I think it's time for our little surprise."  
Cindy's eyes grow wide as does her grin and she jumps off the bed and runs over to Edd and Marie's bags. Cindy comes running back to the bed with a small wrapped box it her hand. Edd helps Cindy back onto the bed and takes the box from her.  
Marie didn't see this happening because she was looking up at the ceiling of her once bedroom, now a guest room, reminiscing about the room. It was this ceiling that she lost hours looking at as she suffered the heartbreak she had over Edd. But that time is long past and she hasn't shed a single tear over Edd.  
"Mommy." Cindy said crawling over to sit on her mother's lap. "Merry Christmas Mommy."  
Marie looks at her daughter. "Merry Christmas to you too Cindy." She says smiling.  
"Daddy and me have something for you."  
"Oh?" Marie says looking over at Edd.  
Edd had moved into a sitting position on the bed facing Marie.  
"My mother sent me this at my request, it must have been fate that it arrived yesterday before we left." Edd says holding the small box out to Marie.  
Marie looks from Edd to Cindy and then to the box. "What did she send you?" She asks taking the box from Edd.  
"You have to open it to see Mommy." Cindy says patting her mother's stomach out of excitement.  
Marie looks at Edd with a raised eyebrow before looking at the box in her hands. Slowly she takes the wrapping off the box and sees it's a small black felt covered box. Marie knows what the box is before she even opens it, but once she does and her suspicions is proven correct she looks back at Edd. "You can't be serious." She says not believing that Edd has just given her a ring.  
Edd smile and Cindy giggles. "I am Marie."  
Marie looks at Cindy. "Has this been what you two have been keeping from me?"  
the little girl can barely contain her excitement."He hehe, yeah Mommy."  
"You want your dad and me to get married?" Marie asks her daughter.  
"Yes Mommy."  
Marie takes the ring out of the box. "So what do you have to say for yourself?" she asks looking at Edd with the ring between her thumb and index finger.  
"You want me to say it don't you?" Edd asks feeling butterflies form in his stomach.  
Marie grins a sly grin."Do it right or not at all."  
Edd takes the ring from Marie. "Marie Kanker, will you marry me?"  
Marie looks from Edd back to her daughter. "Hum… What do you think Cindy? Is your Dad good enough for me?"  
"Daddy is the best daddy." Cindy says with the most serious look a five year old could have.  
"Fair point." Marie says agreeing with her.  
"Can I take that as a yes?" Edd asks getting anxious.  
Marie leans over and kisses Edd. "You had me at "quite fond of you" Double Dee." She says quoting what he said the night they started dating.  
Cindy claps her hands and jumps at her mother hugging her. "Yay Mommy Daddy!" Cindy is obviously happy about her parents getting engaged.  
Edd takes Marie's hand and slides his mother's ring onto Marie's finger. "I love you Marie."  
"I love you too Double Dee." Marie says looking at the ring on her finger. Getting a ring from Edd was something she never thought she'd get when she was a teen growing up in this very room. But now that she has one, she is glad that she made it through the journey that has lead to her sitting on this bed with the love of her life and the child she has with him.  
"I love you too Mommy and I love you too Daddy." Cindy says hugging Marie even tighter.  
Marie hugs her back. "We love you too Cindy."  
"Come on Mommy, we got to tell Grammy and Grampy and Auntie Lee and and and."  
"We'll tell them all Cindy." Edd says cutting his daughter off because she was getting too excited. "But let's just enjoy this moment together for a little bit longer."

The End. 

* * *

Welp, thats the end to this fic. It's shorter then my other stories, but this one was planned to be shorter. I hope everyone who's read this enjoyed it. I know Vicky wasn't the most flushed out character, but she's a character I created from nothing and I guess I'm just not that good and creating all new characters. In my mind Eddy turned out this bad compared to my other stories Eddy because he didn't have someone there keeping him in check like Lee did in the other story. I also didn't write anything more for Ed because I wanted to focus on the Kanker sisters in this story. They are apparently considered some of the most evil female characters from the late 90's. Which was part of my influence for this story, they just needed time to grow up to be seen as more then the mean girls we've seen from the show.  
I know my writing isn't the best grammar and sentence structure wise and I plan on working on it, I need to be more descriptive and use says a lot less. I heard someone says something once about when you create something and even if only one person views it and likes it, then you have made something great. And that's why I want to improve my skills before I start working on the next story. I have ideas for another Edd and Marie, a multiple universe crossover and this Digimon one that I've been toying around with for a while.  
It's going to be a while till I post again, so until then thank you for reading and keep being awesome.

Linken88.


End file.
